A Third Week in the Life
by AnneM.Oliver
Summary: Part 3 in A Week in the Life series, Draco and Hermione have been married for 2 months,& things are better then ever.What happens when fate decides to throw a 'baby' their way? How will they handle the changes? Will it be 9 months of laughter, or pain?
1. Day 1 2nd Month Thursday A Third W

**all characters belong to JKR**

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**_This is the third installment of "A week in the Life" series. You might want to read the first two before this one, since several things that take place in this one will refer to scenes from those stories. This takes place two months after "Another week in the life". Enjoy!_**

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**A Third Week in the Life**

**By**

**Anne M**

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**Chapter 1: Day 1, 2nd Month, Thursday **

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**Day one, 13th February, Thursday: 2nd Month:**

Hermione was in the bathroom throwing up. She told Draco she thought she had eaten something bad. The thing was she had been throwing up on and off now for at least a month. Dreading what the true reason for her present affliction might be, she pushed all thoughts out of her mind, and walked downstairs to find her husband. She wanted to discuss their plans for Valentine's Day. It was tomorrow, and it would be their first one together.

She got as far as the bedroom door, and had to turn around and head back toward the bathroom. What was wrong with her? This was the third time this week she had been nauseated. Actually, it was the first time she had vomited. The last two times she felt better by the afternoon. If she did not feel better soon, she would go see a healer. She finished throwing up; the second time today, but remained by the toilet, just in case. She was still very nauseated.

Draco was at the bottom of the stairs and he could hear Hermione retching in their bathroom all the way from there. He ran up the stairs, to check on her, and went directly to the bathroom. She was on the marble floor, on her side, sweating profusely, and moaning slightly. "What's wrong, Granger?" Even though they had been married for a couple of months, he still always called her 'Granger'. He was not really into calling her sweetheart or baby; those types of names just did not seem to fit her. He came up to her and rubbed her back. "I think there's something more than bad food going on here. Maybe we should call the healer?" he suggested.

"Just leave me alone," she said weakly, "and don't touch me right now." She wiggled her back to remove his hand. Okay. She was throwing up and she was irritable to boot. Fine, he would leave her alone. He started out of the room, and she said, "Don't leave me." She always acted like this, so he was not that surprised. He came back and sat on the floor, and put her head in his lap. He stroked her hair.

After about ten minutes, she managed to sit up and he said, "Do you fancy a bath?"

"That would be nice," she said. She sat up and he helped her to her feet. As he was running the bath, and she was undressing, he took a good look at her nude body. It was as glorious and wonderful as always. The thing was, her breasts seemed larger, somehow. Did women's breasts grow after they were grown-up? He wouldn't know, but her breasts seemed fuller. He wasn't complaining. They were as wonderful as ever, as far as he was concerned. He sat on the side of the tub and she brushed her teeth. He laughed at the thought that just watching his naked wife perform good dental hygiene could make him hard with want for her. She walked over to him, and he wrapped his arms around her waist and put his head on her bare stomach. He kissed her belly. It seemed rounder as well. He let her go and turned off the water. She lowered herself in the tub, and he grabbed his paper from the nightstand, and came and joined her. He sat on the floor reading, as she took her bath.

This was their little ritual. They did this every morning. The house elves would bring in his paper and coffee, and leave them on the nightstand. He would drink his coffee, read the paper the first time, in bed of course, and then he would shower. She would get up, go eat breakfast (something he rarely ever did), and then she would come up and bathe, and he would join her in the bathroom and read the paper for the second time while she was in the bath. He always read the paper twice.

Her big orange cat, which had to be thirty years old by now, and should by all rights be dead, at least if Draco had a say in the matter, came sauntering in the bathroom, and had the gall to lay across Draco's legs. He shook his legs, but the cat, who must weigh the same as a small horse, and whose only purpose in life was to get hair on all of Draco's clothing, just stretched out further.

"Granger, why does your cat insist on attaching himself to me? Doesn't he know how much I hate him?" Draco asked, still wiggling his legs.

Hermione smiled and said, "He knows you really like him. Cats have an inane ability to sense when people are their soul mates. Your personalities are really quite similar."

Just then, Draco's little grey and white stripped tabby cat, which he named Spartacus, never mind that she was a girl, came in with her tail in the air, and a look that expressed, "I am the queen, bow to me." She sat in the corner of the bathroom and proceeded to have her own bath in the only little patch of sunlight that was gracing the bathroom floor with its presence.

Draco said to Crookshanks, Hermione's cat, "See you big fat turd, that's the way a cat is supposed to act. Regal, elegant, polite. You're supposed to have manners, and you aren't supposed to leave orange hair all over your master's best black trousers!" He finally maneuvered him off his legs.

"Draco," Hermione laughed, "how many times must I tell you, he doesn't recognize you as his master? He's not a dog. He probably thinks you belong to him. Frankly, I don't know what you've done to your little cat, but she's the nastiest, most aloof, finicky cat I've ever seen. You know, now that I think of it, her personality and yours are the ones that are similar." Hermione stood and wrapped herself in a towel. Draco stood as well, and went and picked up his cat.

"Ignore the mean woman; she's been in a bad mood. She's just jealous because her cat looks like it has two arses, instead of one arse and one face. She's jealous because you're so beautiful, just like me." He kissed the cat on the nose, and put it down.

Hermione rolled her eyes and said, "I would never have believed that Draco Malfoy would baby talk to a cat."

"And if you tell a living soul, I will cut your cat's heart out and feed it to mine," he said.

"That's the worse thing I have ever heard you say." Hermione pointed at him, "And I have heard you say some truly awful things." She went to get dressed. He sat on the bed, watching.

"Are you just going to leer at me?" she laughed.

"Yes, yes I am," he said back. Then he said, "You do realize that tomorrow is Valentine's Day, don't you?"

"Yes, Malfoy, I'm smart and I know things," Hermione said in a condescending way. She put on her underwear and her bra. Her breasts really did seem larger to Draco, not that he was complaining.

"So, how do you propose we celebrate this little occasion?" he asked her, still staring intently at her body.

Instead of answering him, she said, "I swear, my bras are smaller." Draco wanted to say, no, your breasts are larger, but that might end up in a fight. She would say, 'so you think I'm getting fat', and so on and so forth. He decided to keep quiet.

Since she seemed to be too pre-occupied with her 'smaller clothing' than in the whole idea of Valentine's Day, he decided to revisit the topic later. "So, you aren't sick any more?" He wondered why, if she had the flu, or even if it was something she had eaten, why was she suddenly fine?

"No, I'm better. I told you, it must have been something I'd eaten." Hermione was struggling to button a pair of jeans, and said, "I swear, Malfoy, I think the house elves are shrinking my clothes. All my pants seem too tight." She finally reached in the closet, and found a pair that suited her, and buttoned up her blouse, which she mumbled had shrunk as well, as it barely covered her breasts.

Draco sat on the bed, listening to everything she said, and derived a conclusion. "Granger?" he asked.

She came out of the closet with her shoes and said, "What?"

"When was your last menstrual cycle?" he asked.

She smiled and then laughed and said, "Why in the world do you want to know that? Are you keeping track of these things now?"

"Are you pregnant?" he blurted. It just came out, he couldn't help it.

"No, you're crazy," she said, yet she went over to her desk, brought out her daily planner and started counting days, and said, "No, see, I just had my cycle two weeks ago. See?" She held her calendar up to him.

He stood up and said, "Just wondering." He felt somewhat relieved. He wanted kids someday, but not for a while. He was selfish, and he wasn't ready to share his wife yet.

Draco walked out of the room and went to his study. Hermione, however, looked once more at her calendar. She lied to her husband. She apparently hadn't had a menstrual cycle since they have been married. Damn. She wrote Ginny Weasley an owl and asked her to meet her for lunch in Diagon Alley.

**Lunchtime:**

Hermione told Draco that she was going shopping. He hated to shop with her. He loved to shop, just not with her. First, she always took forever, and she rarely bought anything. She knew if she said she wanted to go shopping, and with Ginny on top of that, he wouldn't want to tag along. He told her goodbye and she took the floo network directly to the restaurant.

Ginny and Harry were already sitting at a table. She didn't want Harry to be there. She just needed to talk to Ginny. As soon as Hermione sat down, she said, "Why are you here, Harry?"

Harry gave her a funny look and said, "What a way to make your best friend feel loved, Hermione."

"It's just; this isn't just a friendly lunch. I need to talk to Ginny about something really, really important. It's private, marriage stuff. I just don't want to talk to you about it, not yet." She looked distressed.

"Hermione, you know you can tell me anything," Harry said concerned. Maybe she had finally come to her senses, and was going to divorce that stupid git she married. Worse, maybe he had been mean to her in some way. He wouldn't put anything past him.

"Harry, please, leave us alone, for a while," Hermione pleaded.

"NO!" he said firmly. "Tell me, what has Malfoy done now?" Harry asked, perturbed.

"Harry, why must you always think the worse of him? He's my husband," Hermione scolded.

Harry sat back with his hands folded across his chest. Ginny said, "Hermione, Harry loves you too, please just tell us both, what's going on?"

"Yes, Hermione, what has the stupid git done now?" Harry echoed.

"I think the stupid git has gotten me pregnant!" Hermione squeaked, and then she actually let her head drop on the table and started banging it up and down, to the embarrassment of her friends and the shock of the other diners.

Harry put his hand under her banging head, and said, "What did you say?"

"Oh, Harry, it's awful! I think I am pregnant! I don't want to be pregnant yet. But, I'm sick every morning, I've gain weight, I haven't had a period in two months, and my boobs are even bigger!"

"Okay, enough information!" Harry was going to leave when she mentioned her period, but he didn't ever want to imagine she had boobs. As far as he was concerned, Hermione Granger, his best friend for twelve years, was a person without gender, and he didn't want to ever think about, talk about, and especially never see, her 'boobs". In addition, he always liked to think of Malfoy as a eunuch. The thought of them in bed…yuck! "I'm going to let you girls talk. Bye!" Harry ran out of the restaurant.

He walked down the street and he saw Draco Malfoy coming straight toward him. He had the undeniable urge to punch him in the face. Hermione was like his sister, and the stupid prat had sex with her, and had gotten her pregnant. All rational thought, such as the thought that sex was something married people, and even unmarried people, did every day, left Harry Potter's mind at that moment. The only thing he could think was, 'I must kill Draco Malfoy'.

"Potter!" Draco yelled toward him, "Have you seen my wife? She was supposed to be somewhere here shopping."

"You're evil, and you have no soul, Malfoy," Harry said.

"Yes, yes, I know, but what does that have to do with anything?" Draco asked, "Have you seen my wife, or not?"

"Let me ask you something. When these marriage laws came about, and you were forced to marry a witch of less than pureblood birth, was there some type of stipulation that said you had to produce an heir by the end of the first year?" Harry asked.

"What are you going on about, now?" Draco asked. "Are you suffering from a head injury, or something?" Draco looked around, to see if this was some type of a joke.

"Answer me, Malfoy," Harry came closer. "Do you even know how to perform a contraception charm?"

"You're an idiot. What do my mating habits have to do with you? Do you want to know the different positions of copulation that my wife and I enjoy, as well?" Draco turned to leave, but Harry held his arm. Malfoy looked at the hand on his arm, and said, "I don't care if you are my wife's best friend, if you don't let go of my arm, I will effing take you down."

Potter let go of his arm, and said, "Why don't you look for her at St. Mungos. I am sure that's where Ginny will take her after lunch. Try the maternity ward." And Harry left.

"What the fuck?" Draco said aloud. He started walking down the street when a wave of nausea almost hit him. He suddenly sat down, right on the curb, and waves started crashing into him…morning sickness…weight gain…big boobs…irritability. Okay, the last one she always had, but the others, oh no. But she assured him that she had just had her period. He started racking his brain. He really couldn't recall her having a period since they were married, exactly two months ago. He apparated home, and then ran upstairs and was indeed sick. He was going to be the worse father in the history of fathers. He sat by the edge of the commode and then stood, walked to her desk, and looked at her date book. She always put a little 'p' on the date her period started. This was February 13th, so he looked at February, and he didn't see even one little 'p' on any of the days. He turned to January, again, no little 'p'. They got married the middle of December. Her last little 'p' was one week before they got married. NO, NO. NO! He threw her date book halfway across the room and with anger left their house. He wasn't angry because she was pregnant, but because she felt like she had to hide it from him.

**Afternoon, at St. Mungos**

Hermione and Ginny decided to try to see if they could get an appointed with a medi-witch or a healer that afternoon. Hermione was lucky, and they were able to see one that very day.

She went into the room without Ginny. She put a gown on, and sat there waiting for the medi-witch and she was worried. What would Malfoy think? They hadn't even discussed having children. She knew she wanted to have kids one day. She told him that when they first started dating, but that was the extent of their 'children talk'.

The healer came in and asked Hermione why she was there. She said she needed to find out if she was pregnant. The healer performed a simple spell, and then told Hermione she was indeed a little over eight weeks pregnant. Hermione wanted to cry. She didn't know if she wanted to cry out of fear, sadness, or joy.

The healer asked her if she had any questions. She said, "Where do I begin."

An hour and a half later, she exited the office. She had made her next appointment, and she walked up to Ginny, who was still waiting in the lobby for her. Hermione had a bunch of pamphlets and booklets in her hands.

"Well?" Ginny asked, "Am I going to be an aunt?"

"Yes, I guess you are," she said.

Ginny screamed in delight and hugged Hermione and then leaned down and said to Hermione's belly, "Hi, baby."

"Please, never do that again," Hermione said, trying to sound lighthearted, but meaning every word. Did people really 'talk' to your belly when you were pregnant? Hermione made a promise to herself; the first person to touch her belly without her permission would have a hex thrown at them so fast, their head would explode.

Hermione and Ginny went back to Ginny's flat. Thank goodness, Harry wasn't back. "Tell Harry not to tell anyone else, until I tell Draco. I think I'll wait until Valentine's Day to tell him," Hermione told her. She was perusing some of the pamphlets as she had tea with Ginny at the Potter's kitchen table.

Ginny picked up a few and said, "Gross" a couple of times.

"Look at this," Hermione showed Ginny one of the pamphlets, "Here's what I have to look forward to: tender, swollen breasts, already have those; Fatigue, hello, I'm 'Miss Tired' all the time; nausea and vomiting, happens every morning. Mood swings, constipation, hemorrhoids, how fun. Food cravings and food aversions, this one sounds nice, frequent urination, stretch marks, leg swelling, and the list goes on!" Hermione was officially freaking out, and she had only known about her pregnancy for one day!

"Ginny, I can't be pregnant. I haven't researched it enough. I don't like to go into something blind. I need to go to Diagon Alley again, and see what books they have at Flourish and Blotts, and then it wouldn't hurt to go to Muggle London, and get all the books they have there, as well," Hermione declared, standing up.

"Hermione, sit down," Ginny commanded, "There's plenty of time for that, just calm down, okay."

"You calm down when you get pregnant!" Hermione snapped.

Ginny said, "Mood swings, that's on the list as well."

Harry came walking in. He immediately saw all the pamphlets. "Merlin, Hermione, tell me it's not true."

She stood up and poked him hard in the chest. "Harry James Potter, I'm eight weeks pregnant and you will be nice to me, and to Draco, and accept this thing and love my baby as if it's your own, or I will never talk to you again!" She was practically shrilling.

There was no way he was going to tell her he already told Malfoy. Instead, he put his hands up, in case he needed to defend himself, but also to show that he surrendered, and said, "Of course, Hermione. I'll love any baby of yours, and I'll support you all that I can." He hugged her and looked at Ginny, who rolled her eyes.

"Go get me some parchment and a quill," Hermione ordered.

Harry went to the kitchen drawer to retrieve the items and said, "What are you going to do, write down baby names. I've always been partial to Harry for a boy." He laughed.

"Yuck," Hermione said, contemptibly. "No, I'm not so vapid that I want to 'write down baby names' Mr. Potter," she said sarcastically, although since he mentioned it, it did not seem like that bad of a thing to do, although she was not about to tell him that. She took the parchment from Harry and the quill and started writing, and the Potters left their kitchen and left her alone.

"Go get us some take out. We didn't end up eating any lunch, and I am starving," Ginny said.

"Should we ask Hermione what she wants?" Harry asked.

"If you value your life, I wouldn't, but you can if you want. I'm going to go read some of these pamphlets." Ginny raised her hand that contained some of the pregnancy booklets and headed toward the living room. "This might reinforce my convections that birth control is a very necessary thing," Ginny added, as Harry left to get take out. He thought he might stop off at a Muggle drug store as well. It couldn't hurt to be double safe.

In the kitchen, Hermione was making one of her famous 'pro/con' list. The list was title, "reasons Draco and Hermione should have children/shouldn't have children." She began writing feverishly, and didn't stop until Harry came back with the food. She had five things on the pro side and four on the con, but she knew that might change.

**Evening, at home with the Malfoys**

Hermione came into the house and looked for Draco. She walked into the dining room, and saw that the table was set for two. There were candles and what looked like wine chilling in a bucket by the table. She called for one of the house elves, and asked if they knew were Master Malfoy was. The house elf told Hermione that he was upstairs, lying down, with a headache. The little elf asked Hermione is they still wanted dinner. Hermione conceded that she really didn't know, and she turned and left the room.

She ran up the stairs, and found him in their bedroom, in the dark, with his right arm over his eyes.

"Draco, what's wrong?" Hermione sat next to him on the bed, and put her hand on his chest.

"I have a headache. I thought we could celebrate Valentine's Day one day early, but I think I need to just rest." He turned to his side, with his back toward her.

"Do you need a headache potion?" she asked.

"I've taken one," he said.

"I'll leave you alone." She started to get up to leave, but he took a hold of her hand, and made her stay. He pulled on her arm, and she understood. She lay next to him, spooning up against his back. Hermione put her arm over his body and rubbed his arm up and down with her hand.

"How was your shopping?" he asked, still not facing her.

"I didn't go shopping," she said truthfully, "I had lunch with Ginny, and then she and I had an errand to run."

He held her hand now in his and said, "Where did you go?"

He felt her body stiffen. She tried to sit up, but he held her down. He turned around to face her. They both lay on their sides, him on his right side, and her on her left side. He stroked her cheek, and she tenderly caressed his hair. "Where did you go?" he asked again.

"I went to see a healer, you know, about my stomach problems," she said.

"What was the prognosis?" he asked, afraid of what she was going to say.

"I think in this instant, you mean 'diagnosis," she corrected.

"Okay, what was the diagnosis?" he amended.

"Draco?" she asked.

"Yes?" he said.

"I don't know how to say this. It's not good news. It's kind of bad news," she said.

He abruptly sat up. Someone help him. He just thought she was going to tell him she was pregnant, but apparently, there was something seriously wrong with her. Suddenly, he was terrified for her. Whatever it was, they would get through it together. He stood up and said, "Tell me, tell me right now, what's wrong?"

She stood as well. "Draco, I'm two months pregnant," she said hesitantly.

"WHAT!" he exclaimed. He was expecting that. That he could handle. Why did she have to scare him? "MY goodness, Hermione!" he yelled, "I already knew that." He was walking back and forth in front of her. "Stupid Scarhead already told me. I thought you were going to tell me you had some incurable disease or something. Why did you say it was bad news?" He was still pacing, but then it dawned on him, why did she say it was bad news? "Hey, wait a minute; don't you want to have my baby?" he asked, finally sitting down.

"I haven't given it a lot of thought before. I don't really think its bad news, but I figured you might," she said, sitting by him, and then something occurred to her as well. "Hey, you said Harry already told you? That arse-hole. Is that why you have a headache? Do you think its bad news?" Now she was scared.

"I haven't given it much thought either, Granger. Let's face it; we have not ever discussed this before." Drano was standing again.

She stood and said, "And neither have we ever done anything to prevent it." She pointed out.

"True." He was in shock.

"Yes, true." She was as well.

"Happy Valentine's Day, I guess," he said.

"You could have just gotten me roses," she joked.

"I thought this would last longer than flowers," he joked back.

"Yes, the gift that keeps on giving," she said back.

"If the child is a Malfoy, the saying should be the gift that keeps on taking," he said with a smile. She smiled back. She sighed and put her head on his shoulder. He put his arms around her waist.

"I did a pro/con list," she said, "Do you want to see it?"

"Are you telling me the truth?" he asked surprised.

"Yes," she laughed, pulling a piece of parchment out of her pants pocket. It said, "Reasons Draco and Hermione should have children/shouldn't have children." Hermione said, "Keep in mind, I had a lot on my mind, so the list isn't very big yet. Plus, I had trouble concentrating, which is one of the many wonderful symptoms I have to look forward to, or so I have read."

He read the top of the piece of parchment, laughed, and said, "You had me worried for a second. I thought maybe the title would be, 'reasons why we shouldn't get pregnant' or something."

"It's a little too late for that, since I'm already pregnant," she responded. "Although we could make another list titled 'reasons Draco Malfoy should never ever reproduce' or maybe one that says, 'reasons we should castrate Draco Malfoy'."

"We can do those ones later. Let me have a look," he said. He took her list and read aloud.

**Reasons ****Draco**** and Hermione should have children/shouldn't have children:**

**PRO:**

The children will probably be good looking (Draco)

The children are bound to be smart (Hermione)

The children will be loved (Draco and Hermione)

The children will have lots of opportunities (Draco's money)

The children will have magical ability (That's a given)

**CON:**

The children might have bushy/curly hair (Hermione)

The children will be spoiled (Draco's money)

The children might not be smart (Sorry Draco)

The children will be half bloods & might be subjected to bigots (Both of us)

He laughed aloud at most of her entries. He said, "First, it's funny you think so highly of me. You apparently think I'm beautiful, but dumb. I'm going to enlarge this list, and we're going to post it on the bathroom door, and every time we think of another reason, we'll add to it, okay?" He went to the bathroom door, took his wand, and did just that.

"What if we end up with more cons than pros?" she asked.

"Then we will just not let the baby come out, no matter what," Draco said without a trace of humour, "and if it still tries, we will just push it back in."

She was too tired to laugh at his stupid jokes.

"Do you still want to go downstairs and eat? Your table looked nice," Hermione admitted to him. "Although, I can't have any wine."

"It wasn't wine, it was pumpkin juice, and frankly, I really just want to have sex with my wife," he said, "I mean, that's still okay, having sex, isn't it?"

"Of course, and we better take advantage of it now, because some of the things I read about today, well, lets just say, we have some fun times coming up, Malfoy. I'm not sure I will want to have sex later, and you might not be that enthused either," she grimaced, "I bought nineteen new books on the subject, if you want to take a look at one of them sometime. They are being delivered tomorrow."

He laughed. He did not laugh because he thought she was joking about buying nineteen books on the subject. He laughed because he knew she was telling the truth about it.

"Come on, Granger, let's have sex," he said, kissing her neck. "Have you seen the size of your breasts lately? Wow, is all I can say." He kissed her sweetly, and led her to the bed.

_(End of Day one)_


	2. Day 2 3rd Month Friday A Third Wee

**all characters belong to JKR**

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**Chapter 2: Day 2, 3rd Month, Friday **

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**Day Two: 14th March, Friday: 3rd Month Pregnancy:**

Hermione got out of bed for the seventh time that night. Well, actually, it was now early morning. She was exactly three months pregnant, and not only did she still have bloody morning sickness almost every morning, but now, every night when she went to bed, she had to get up continually all night long to go to the bathroom. Draco, being the quiescent husband that he was, had yet to complain. Even though she woke him up, whether it be by accident or on purpose, every time she got up, and then still had the 'balls' to complain to him that she's not getting any sleep at night, he had not complained once. Well, hell, he's not getting any sleep either.

Tonight, Hermione had been resting fairly well, until she woke up screaming. Draco sat up, ramrod straight, and turned to his wife, sure that an unseen assailant was attacking her. Instead, she was shaking because she had a nightmare.

She was crying, so he pulled her into his arms and asked, "What did you dream?"

Hermione said, "I had a dream that our baby only had one eye, and it was in the middle of its forehead."

Draco actually had the gall to laugh. Out loud. Hermione hit him. "Well, if he ever needs glasses, they would be cheaper that way," he said.

"It was a terrible dream," she said back, not amused by his asinine jokes.

He rubbed her back, which she had now turned away from him. She turned back toward him and said, "Do you still find me attractive?"

How could she ask something like that? She was beautiful. As beautiful as she was the day he fell in love with her. He put his hand up to her face and brought his fingertips down it softly. That was his answer. He leaned over her and kissed her lips. He pulled her bottom lip with his teeth, softly caressed the top lip with his tongue, and finally he sank his tongue between them both, and sought out her tongue. He tasted her, and she tasted like home, like love, like his. He placed one hand on one of her breasts, which was fuller than ever. Her breasts had been so tender lately, that the last time they made love, which was exactly four days ago, because Draco had been keeping track, she cried out when he touched them because they were so swollen and tender. So he had learned his lesson, he would be gentler now, and test the waters, so be speak. Tonight, instead of crying out, she purred. Like a cat.

"Draco, touch me," she pleaded. He came up on his side, and the hand that was touching her nightgown-covered breasts sank down to her stomach. He pulled her nightgown up, and put his hand between her legs. She never wore underwear to bed anymore; she said they were too much of a nuisance, since she had to go to the bathroom so much. He put his middle finger inside her, and with the thumb moving back and forth, and around and around, at the top of her opening, she started to climax, that fast. She had never had an orgasm that fast before. He barely had time to become aroused, and yet there she was, thrashing about, calling out his name.

He loved to hear his name come from her pretty mouth. He loved her pretty mouth as well. He climbed between her legs, and quickly entered her. It only took a few strokes, and her legs were quaking and a familiar spasm was traveling across her midsection. Several more strokes were all it took for Draco to come as well.

Usually, after sex, he liked to stay on top of her for a moment, and stay inside her as long as he could, but lately, he was afraid of crushing the baby, so he immediately withdrew to lay beside her on the bed, with his leg and arm draped across her. That would have to fill his need for now. She told him that the baby was well protected inside her uterus, with the amniotic fluid cushioning it, but he still wanted to take care.

Hermione pushed herself off the bed, took her wand, and wrote on the Pro/Con list, "Great sex" under the 'pro' side. It now was joined by the other recently added 'pros' of: Hermione's new boobs, added by Draco, and 'No need for contraception', also added by Draco, which Hermione pointed out they apparently didn't use before this, or they wouldn't have been in this predicament that they now found themselves.

The two recently added 'cons' were 'frequent urination', and 'constipation'. Hermione wrote those two. She said it was an irony, that she urinated more, but her bowels moved less. Actually, the other day she told Draco to add those two to the 'con' side for her, but when she saw he wrote, 'more pee, less poop' she laughed, erased them, and re-wrote them. She told him that first, they should count as two 'cons', since they were unrelated things, and second, what if someone would ever see this list, they wouldn't want to be embarrassed, would they? Draco pointed out that any one of the things on the list would probably embarrass them, and he also said that they needed to make sure the 'con' side was always smaller than the 'pro', in case little Daphne or Fabio ever saw the list someday.

Yes, that's right. Draco had taken to calling the baby either Daphne or Fabio, depending on the moment. He said that sometimes he felt it was a girl, and sometimes he felt it was a boy. Hermione told him they were wickedly funny names and please never repeat them again. Of course, he said them all the time. His only concern was that what if the names grew on them, and they actually ended up calling their baby by one of those names. Fabio Malfoy, what a name that would be.

She came back to bed, after visiting the bathroom, and Draco said, "Aren't you embarrassed someone will see you wrote 'great sex' on our 'pro' list?"

"Well, we have to always make sure the 'pro' list is bigger. You said so yourself," she pointed out.

Hermione took a deep breath, and sat on the edge of the bed. He crawled up behind her, put his hand on her back, started moving his fingers in small circles, and said, "Guess what pregnancy symptom I'm spelling out on your back."

She said, "Fine, but only because that feels heavenly."

He took his index finger, and wrote a big H, then he made a big E, then he outlined a large and seemly calligraphy style M. Hermione said, "My name has an 'r' before the 'm'."

"Is your name a pregnancy symptom?" he asked, with pretend mild annoyance. "May I continue?" She nodded her head. He next traced another M. Then he traced an O, and then a R. She stopped him again.

"If you're trying to spell 'hemorrhoid', you just spelled it wrong. It has one M and double R," she preached.

"Fine, don't play with me," he sulked. He _was _spelling it wrong. Damn her for knowing everything. He put his pillow over his head, and tried to go back to sleep. Suddenly, he sat back up, as he heard Hermione start to cry.

He crawled up behind her, put both his legs on the side of hers, sat in the middle of the bed, and pulled her back up against his chest. "Why are you crying? Did you finally realize that your husband is stupid?" he asked her.

"No, I've always known that," she said, through her tears.

He frowned slightly, but said, "What is it, then."

"I don't know. I guess it's just hormones. I don't even know why I'm crying." She leaned her head back on his shoulder, and he kissed her gently on the lips. "Lets get some more sleep, I'm tired," she said. They both fell back on the bed, spooning, with her in front. He put his cheek next to her cheek, and his hand on her stomach.

"Hermione, you know, anytime you feel scared or alone, just tell me okay. Remember, I love you, and I don't mind being your sounding board, or you own personal whipping boy. I told you that the first day I fell in love with you, remember?" he reassured her.

She said 'alright', and they both went back to sleep.

**Morning, not so routine:**

Draco was reading his paper, for the first time, and Hermione, who seemed to be free of morning sickness this morning, was downstairs eating breakfast. He folded his paper and decided to join her at the breakfast table.

He sat down and asked the house elf for some fruit and another coffee. Hermione was merely picking at her food. "What's wrong, Granger?" he asked, picking up his fork and taking a bite of grapefruit.

"AUGH!" Hermione yelled. She pushed her plate of waffles away from her.

"Are you sick?" he asked.

"Are you stupid?" she responded.

"Okay, not sick, just irritable. Just like to know which symptom you're on," he sighed.

She stood up and walked over to him. He was ignoring her. He knew it would bother her, but there you go, he was still doing it. She took his fork right out of his hand, mid bite, and threw it across the room. He continued to read his paper, and took another drink of coffee.

Now she took his paper from him, and threw it in the fireplace. He stood up, and retrieved another fork from the buffet. He sat down, and this time, she took his grapefruit half, and flung it across the room.

"Okay, you have my attention. What's wrong with you? Please don't assume that just because you're pregnant, you can get away with acting like a bitch," he said, with malevolence. He meant it, too.

"Draco! I am just so bored," she whined, "I feel like I am fast becoming one of those boring, uninspiring, bland, uninteresting women that I simply cannot stand."

"And what may I do to help you be less boring, uninspiring, bland, uninteresting, and might I add less melodramatic?" he asked.

"Help me," she said.

"HOW?" he moaned loudly.

"Come to my appointment with me today, and then let's go on a good old fashion date. We haven't been on a date in a long time. I get so bored trapped in the big house all day long with no one but the house elves to keep me company," she said.

He pulled her unto his lap, and told her, "First, no one told you to quit your job, my fine bonny lass. If you still worked, you wouldn't be bored. I know you and you need stimuli. Second, I happen to know that I'm here practically everyday, keeping you company, so why in the world would you say you only have house elves for company? What's really going on?"

She tried to get off his lap, but he held on tight. She turned to him and said, "If you don't want to go out on a date with me, fine. Maybe you could find a prettier date, someone without hemorrhoids, constipation, frequent urination, irritability, etcetera, and etcetera."

"Are you trying to pick a fight?" he asked, because he thought she really was.

She grinned and said, "Yes, I am, and I really couldn't find a valid reason, so I made something up off the cuff. No good, aye?" she asked, and then she laughed aloud. "Well, if you would have just risen to the occasion when I threw your fork, I wouldn't have had to make up some stupid reason, like being bored, but no, no fight from Malfoy, not even over thrown flatware." She laughed and got off his lap.

"Are these the mood swings I've been so anxiously waiting for, or is my wife now bipolar?" he asked.

"Either or, it doesn't matter," she said in a singsong voice. "I am bored though. Could we really maybe go out on a date today, after my appointment with my medi-witch."

"Sure," he said, seeming uninterested in the whole conversation, when secretly, he was making plans for the day in his head.

Hermione was ready before Draco, and waiting for him in the foyer. "Honestly, Malfoy, my appointment is in five minutes!" she yelled.

He came strolling down the stairs and grabbed her hand and led them both to the fireplace, and said, "After you."

**Out on a "date"**

They arrived at St. Mungos mere seconds later. Hermione admitted to Draco that floo travel made her somewhat nauseated these days and suggested that maybe next time they could apparate. They took the lifts up to the Obstetrics floor. Malfoy sat in the waiting room, while Hermione was taken inside. He looked at all the witches sitting around him, all with various sizes of stomachs. They all looked different. Some were 'glowing' as pregnant women were rumoured to do, some looked frazzled, and some looked bored. Some seemed anxious, and some looked like they had been there before.

Hermione came back to the waiting area, Draco took her hand, and they started down the hallway. Hermione told him that her first trimester was almost over and soon they should probably be able to find out the sex of the baby. She asked him if that was something that he would be interested in knowing. He looked at his wife's face and said, "Do you want to know?"

"Truthfully, yes, I do. You know me, I like to be prepared, but I know you as well, and I know you like surprises," said Hermione.

"I'll let you know," he told her. "Now, on to our date." He took her arm and they left the hospital. "Where should we go first?" he asked.

"I want to go shopping for some maternity clothes. My things are already getting too tight," she said. They went to a Muggle department store, and after spending excessively too much money, and actually having a fun time together, Draco took his wife out to lunch.

"I would really like something chocolate," Hermione said while looking over the menu. She put the menu down, so she could peer over it and said, "There's no law saying I can't just have chocolate for lunch, is there? I mean, pudding can replace the main entrée, can't it?" She put the menu back up to cover her face. Draco silently laughed; he had been waiting for the food-craving symptom. That one he thought he could handle. He couldn't wait for the first time he had to go get her something special to eat in the middle of the night. He liked this side of Hermione. She was more fun. She should be three months pregnant more often.

"When are we going to tell everyone that you're pregnant?" Draco asked after they ordered and the food was delivered to their table.

"I guess we could do that now. Ginny wants to throw us a shower in a couple of months. That reminds me, I'd like Ginny and Harry to be the baby's godparents," she said, taking a bite of the chocolate cake that they waiter just set down in front of her.

"Yes and no," Drano said.

"What does that mean?" Hermione asked.

"Yes to Girl Potter, not to Headscar," he said.

"Draco, I told you not to call him that anymore," Hermione said, though she couldn't help smiling.

"You said, and I quote, 'don't call Harry _Scarhead_ anymore' and I didn't. I called him _Headscar. _Very different words, with very different meanings. I've given it a lot of cogitation, and there are no loop holes here, so you can't yell at me," Drano reasoned.

"Okay, I won't yell at you for now, but why don't you want Harry?" she quizzed.

"I should pick one of the godparents, and I'd like Blaise," he said.

Hermione chortled, and said, "Oh yes, he would be a wonderful example for our child. He could teach it to lie, cheat, swear, steal, smoke, and gamble, womanize, and last but not least, how to be vain and worthless."

A voice directly behind her said, "You forgot incredibly charming, a good dresser, good looking, and sexy beyond belief."

She turned around, saw Blaise standing directly behind her, then turned back to her husband, and said, "You saw he was there, didn't you. Once again, you set me up."

"Let me point out that I didn't tell you to say all those things, although I knew you would," Draco said with a laugh, and then he rose from his chair to shake his friend's hand. Draco then added, "I still would rather have Blaise than Potter, though."

Blaise invited himself to sit down, took a drink from Hermione's water, just to irritate her, she was sure, and he inquired, "What are we talking about, kids?"

"Yes, that's what we're discussing," Hermione said with a smile. He was calling them 'kids'.

"What?" Blaise didn't understand.

"Ignore her ignorant attempts at word play," Draco told his oldest friend, "and congratulate us. We are pregnant."

Blaise looked at Hermione and then back at Draco. "Both of you, wow?" he joked. Then he leaned over, kissed Hermione's cheek, and shook Draco's hand. He looked at Hermione again and said, "You don't look very pregnant."

"Look at her boobs, Blaise. They're much bigger," Draco drawled.

"Draco!" Hermione held her hands up to her chest. Blaise had the audacity to pull her arms down and ogle her chest.

"I always thought they were nice, but you are right, they seem even nicer," Blaise said.

Suddenly, Draco stood up, pushed Blaise out of his seat next to Hermione, and pulled him onto Draco's recently abandoned seat. "I don't trust you next to my wife. When have you thought of her breasts?" Draco said, sitting down next to Hermione.

"When have I not thought about them? That would be an easier thing to answer," Blaise admitted.

"That's who you want for our child's godfather?" Hermione pointed, then she said, "And you did tell him to look at my breasts, you arse-hole."

"Fine, Potter can be the godfather," Draco conceded.

"You mean I've being demoted already? Maybe for the next child I could be the sperm donor," he said, winking at Hermione.

Hermione looked at Draco, and said, "Defend my honour, please."

"Blaise, don't talk about sperm at the table," Draco said.

"You two are hopeless!" Hermione said. "I have to go to the restroom."

She got up and heard Draco say, "That's all she does all day, is go to the bathroom." Seriously, Hermione thought, he was a moron.

When she came back, Draco was alone at the table, thank goodness.

"Where did Caligula go?" Hermione joked.

"I told him to leave, as we are on a date," Draco said.

Just then, a very pretty blonde woman walked past, and Draco looked up at her, and then continued eating. Hermione leaned in and said, "Do you think she's prettier than me?" The truth was she never minded when he looked at pretty girls, for she knew that was normal.

"No, she's not prettier, but I bet she has a better since of humour, and maybe a better personality," he said almost too seriously.

Hermione cocked her head to the side, and waited for an apology, to which he finally said, "What, I said you were prettier. Gee, Granger, get a grip. Don't let little Daphne hear her parents fight."

"So she's a she at the moment," Hermione said, taking his arm as he offered it to her, so she could stand.

"Yes, at the moment, she's a she," Draco really always had a feeling the baby was a girl. He wasn't sure why. He really wanted a girl. He didn't want Hermione to know that yet.

Hermione wanted a boy, but she hadn't said anything to Draco about it, because it really didn't matter, but sometimes she just thought she wanted a boy.

They walked arm in arm down the street. The March wind was furious apparently, because it was whipping all around them, beating their faces and bodies with its cold demanding chill. It was too cold to continue walking, but that is what they did. Draco pulled his collar up, and put his arm around his wife's shoulders.

"What names do you really like, for a girl?" Hermione asked.

"I really like Daphne," he joked. He didn't really, but dammit, it was growing on him, as he feared. "Seriously, I like traditional names, like Katherine, Anne, Elizabeth, Margaret, and Victoria. For boy names I like strong, masculine names that have nothing to do with constellations, dragons, or Latin." Hermione laughed and he continued, "I like Michael, Philip, Charles, William, you know, those types of names."

Hermione said, "I like Michael and William for male names, as well as Henry and Richard, and I really like Catherine, with a "C". I also like Emmeline, Virginia, Violet, and Olivia."

"I like Olivia. That's a nice name. I like Emmeline as well, although it's somewhat of a mouthful, but coming from a person named Hermione, well, it's appropriate," he said, hugging her closer.

"Let's go ahead and narrow it down," she said.

He said, "Don't you think it's too early?"

"No, I really don't. It's already a real little person to me, and I would like to associate a name with it," she answered back.

"Yes, but what about if you want to know the sex and I don't; if we go ahead and pick out a name, you might slip and call it by that name, and the surprise would be ruined," he explained.

"Draco that could happen anyway. I could accidentally say 'he' or 'she'. Come on, let's narrow each down to our favourite two first names, and we can think of middle names later," she said. "You go first."

"Fine, my merry wife, I will narrow the girl's names down to Grace and Louise," he said.

"Those weren't even on our list," she complained, but added, "You know though, I like both of those."

"See, we need to really give this more thought. Go home, get some parchment and right down a pro/con list on each name," he joked.

"You're a card," she said.

"What does that mean?" he asked.

"It's a Muggle term, it means you are so funny, as in, 'you're a card, you need to be dealt with', or 'you're a card, you're such a joker'," she tried to explain.

"I still really don't know what that means, but please don't teach our children Muggle speak. I won't know what you are saying, and you might talk about me behind my back, or in front of my face for that matter, and I won't know what you're saying," Draco implored.

"Fine, no Muggle speak," Hermione humoured him. They continued down the street, arm in arm, braving the way through the cold March wind.

**Later, at the Potter's house for dinner:**

Draco and Hermione arrived outside the Potter's flat and Hermione reminded Draco to let her ask them about being godparents. Hermione was afraid that Draco would say something crass or out of line. They knocked on the door and Hermione was just about to remind Draco again, for the fourth time, when Ginny answered the door.

"We thought you would floo instead of apparating," she said as she let them in the house.

"Using the floo makes me nauseated right now," Hermione explained.

"Well, come on in. Dinner will be soon. Harry's in the living room, making drinks. Fruit juice is on hand for the mum-to-be," Ginny said, heading back toward the kitchen.

The Malfoys headed the other way, toward the living room. Harry kissed Hermione's cheek, grunted hello to Draco, and then handed them their drinks. Ginny soon joined them and they all sat down.

"So, what have you two been up to today?" Ginny asked.

"I had an appointment with my healer, and then we went shopping for maternity clothes and out for lunch. We just went home after that," Hermione said. It didn't sound very exciting when you put it like that.

"Oh," was Harry's response

His wife, however, asked, "How is everything with the baby."

"Fine," Hermione answered, "we wanted to ask you two if you would like to become the baby's godparents?"

Ginny started jumping up and down, saying, yes, yes, yes. Harry just sat there and said, "Both of you wanted us?"

Draco rolled his eyes and said, "Yes, Potter, both of us wanted you."

Harry said, "I don't think so."

Suddenly, three sets of eyes were upon Harry Potter. "What?" Hermione exclaimed. She wasn't sure what he meant by that.

Harry stated, "I don't think I can do that. I can't speak for Ginny, if she feels comfortable with that, that's her choice, but I can't do it."

Hermione felt like her best friend just kicked her in the stomach, and then spit on her. She was hurt beyond what words could express. Draco, however, just raised his eyebrows and said, "Whatever, we will go with my first choice, Blaise."

Ginny looked from Harry to Hermione, who by this time were staring directly into each other's eyes. Hermione's eyes spoke volumes, revealing the hurt she felt. Harry's eyes were dark and unspeaking. She had no idea why he said no.

Hermione stood up and said, "Excuse me, I need the loo." She slowly walked out of the room to the bathroom.

Ginny looked at her husband again, and to the shock of everyone in the room, she yelled, "Harry James Potter, I am ashamed of you. You go talk to her."

Draco said, "She probably really does have to go to the bathroom. That's all she does these days. She'll get over her best friend stabbing her in the heart, taking it out of her chest, and stomping it into the ground. I'm sure it's fine." His wife's apparent distress was not at all lost on Draco, and while he didn't give a shite about Potter, no one hurt his wife. He stood, handed his glass to Ginny and said, "I'm not very hungry. I think when Hermione returns, we'll just head home."

They all stood, and the most awkward silence filled every crack and corner of the room. When Hermione hadn't returned ten full minutes later, Harry left the room and walked down the hall to their bathroom. He knocked on the door, "Hermione, it's Harry, may I come in and explain my reasons to you?" She opened the door to him.

He came in and shut the door behind him. She had been crying.

"Hermione, I'm sorry, but I'm not a hypocrite. I will never like Malfoy. He's hurt you too much during this relationship, and I will never approve. I will love your baby, I'm sure, but to be godfather means to support and inspire a child, and to help guide them through life. It also means to help instill in them the values of the parents. I cannot do that, because I don't feel Draco is an honourable man, and I don't feel he has good values, nor does he impress me with his thoughts or words. Past deeds speaks a lot for a person's character. I'm sorry, but my word is final on this." When Harry was done speaking, Hermione did something she hadn't done in a very long time, to anyone. She slapped Harry Potter right across his self-righteous face.

"I don't want you to be godparent anymore," Hermione said through her now freely flowing tears. "Look at yourself in the mirror, before you decide you are without sin and start to throw stones at others. My husband loves me, and he shows me that everyday of my life. He's turned into a good man. We may have had a tumultuous beginning, what with hating each other as children, and we may even have had a rocky courtship, but he's been a model husband, loving, caring, giving, and I won't have you ever say another negative thing about him." She turned to leave the bathroom, but then turned back to him and said, "If I have to pick my best friend or my husband, I will pick my husband, but please, Harry, if you ever loved me at all, don't make me pick, and please find it in your heart to apologize to me." She left him alone in the bathroom and walked back toward the others.

"Sorry, Gin, I don't feel like eating anymore, I'm a wee bit sick," Hermione lied. Ginny and Draco could both see that she had been crying. Ginny hugged her friend tight, and Draco took her hand and practically dragged her out of their flat.

Outside in the hallway, Draco said, "Do you want me to go back in there and curse his arse?" He tried to say it with humour, but the truth was that was exactly what he wanted to do.

She just said no. They walked down the stairs, when Hermione all of a sudden sat down on the bottom step. Draco did as well. He held her hand and said, "Do you want me to go up there and kick his arse, good old Muggle style?" She grinned that time, but still said no.

"Do you want me to go up there and poke him in the eye?"

"No," she answered.

"Do you want me to go up there and throw a glass of wine in his face?"

"No."

"Do you want me to go up there and give him a big old kiss, because that would probably kill him?"

Hermione laughed a deep belly laugh and then said, "Now that one I just might take you up on."

"Let's go home, Hermione. I'm starving," Draco concluded.

They went home and had their elves fix them dinner. Hermione was still quiet throughout most of dinner. She went to the study to read, while Draco sat at the desk, doing some financial planning. He was working on a trust fund for the baby. He kept glancing back at Hermione, who had not turned a page in her book for five minutes. He put his quill down and walked over to her, and sat on the arm of her chair. "I have something for our pro/con list," he said.

She looked up at him and said, "Really, what?"

Draco explained, "Pro – our baby will love reading. Pro – our baby won't have to have a self – righteous, holier than thou, bastard for a godfather."

"Then you can't have Blaise either, because he would fall in that category as well," she said with a smile. "I do think you should put the reading part. I like that."

They both walked upstairs and he wrote that on the list. Then he said, "Lets turn in, I'm pretty tired."

"Yes, I hear pregnancy can really zap your energy," Hermione said, humouring him.

They both got ready for bed, and when they turned in, Draco pulled Hermione to him and said, "I don't want anything to ruin this experience for you, and I don't want you to have a feud with your best mate, just because of me. I'll go talk to him in the morning if you want, try to persuade him. I won't even hex him once." Draco kissed the top of her head.

She had never been more proud of her husband than at that precise moment. He had changed, and if Harry could not appreciate that, it was his loss. She kissed him back, turned out the light, and went to sleep.

**PRO:**

The children will probably be good looking (Draco)

The children are bound to be smart (Hermione)

The children will be loved (Draco and Hermione)

The children will have many opportunities (Draco's money)

The children will have magical ability (That's a given)

Hermione's boobs have gotten larger (Thank you, Draco)

No need for contraception (Draco)

Great sex (Hermione)

Love for reading is a given (Hermione)

**CON:**

The children might have bushy/curly hair (Hermione)

The children will be spoiled (Draco's money)

The children might not be smart (Sorry Draco)

The children will be half bloods & might be subjected to bigots (Both of us)

Urinating more then usual (Hermione)

Constipation, how fun. (Hermione)

(End of Day Two)


	3. Day 3 4th Month Saturday A Third W

**all characters belong to JKR**

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**Chapter 3: Day 3, 4th Month, Saturday **

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**Day Three, 15th, April, Saturday, 4th month Pregnancy**

**Outside, after lunch:**

Draco was in his study, composing an advertisement for THE DAILY PROPHET. He was advertising for a nanny for the baby. He thought it was never too early to be prepared, and he wanted to make sure they got the very best nanny that they could, so he thought now was a good time to start looking. He came outside to find Hermione, who was outside writing. She thought she was an author now. Draco laughed silently to himself when he thought about that. She probably would be a very good writer, although she would not yet let him read her manuscript, so he really could not make an educated decision on the matter.

He took the ad he had written and went out to read it to Hermione, to get her point of view. After all, it was her baby, too.

"Hermione, read this and tell me what you think," Draco said, as he walked out to the back garden and handed Hermione a piece of parchment. She put her work aside and reached out her hand to take the parchment from him.

"Do I have competition now? Are you going to write also?" She smiled. She read the parchment, stood up and asked, "What is the meaning of this?"

"It's an advertisement that I wrote for a nanny," Draco said, thinking it was obvious.

"For a what?" Hermione could not believe what she just heard.

"A nanny," Draco said slowly. Maybe she was suffering from a brain injury.

"For whom?" she asked.

"US."

"Why?"

"Because."

"Draco! Don't be daft. We don't need a nanny." She took the parchment, balled it up, and threw it at him.

"Granger, in case it has slipped your mind, we're having a baby," Draco told her. He picked the parchment up and pressed out the wrinkles with his hands.

"Why do you think we need a nanny?" Hermione asked with ire.

"We don't need one perhaps, but we want one," he said.

"I don't," she answered in a clip tone.

"Well, I do," he said. Now he was somewhat peeved.

"Why do we need a nanny? We are two capable adults, neither of which have a job, so I think we will have ample time to take care of our own baby. We don't need or want a nanny, and that's that." Hermione sat back down.

So she thought that was that? Draco didn't. "Who will take care of it at night, while we're sleeping?" Ha! He thought. She didn't think of that, did she?

"We will. We'll take turns," she answered, not even looking up at him.

"I'm not losing any sleep over a baby!" Draco said seriously.

Hermione threw her notebook down, stood up again, and said, "You didn't mind losing sleep making the baby! We aren't getting a nanny, and that's all I wish to say on the matter."

"I say we are," Draco said as he walked inside. She followed. He would never have even shown her the advertisement if he knew she would get all upset. He turned back toward her and tried to explain, "Hermione, I know you grew up poor, but we are rich, and rich people get nannies. That's the way it is. We don't have to take care of our own baby if we don't want to." He sat down on the couch.

She sat on the opposite end of the couch and said, "First, Malfoy, I didn't actually grow up indigent. We had plenty of money, thank you, and both my parents worked, they were professionals, and they took care of me by themselves. I am saddened that you don't want to raise your own child. If that's the way you feel, than we should have had this discussion long before I got pregnant. However, that is neither here nor there, as we are pregnant, and I for one intend to take care of my baby myself, and apparently I will be doing it alone." She stood back up and went back outside.

The conversation was not over, as far as Draco was concerned. He followed her back outside.

"Hermione, be reasonable. We will just get a nanny for nighttime, okay?" He thought he was giving in to her. "We need our rest, especially if we have to take care of a baby all day."

"I will take care of the baby at night, as well. I guess I will take care of it all day, everyday, by myself. I don't even know why I need you anymore. You are nothing but a rich, pretty, sperm donor," she said, sitting back in her chair in the back garden.

"So you think I'm unnecessary? Is that so? Who will you tell our baby that I am?" Draco said with antagonism.

Hermione said, "I will say, 'see that pretty blond man over there, the one that is so well rested, because he gets a full nights sleep, well that, my little one, is your father, so sad you couldn't get to know him better, but he wanted nothing to do with raising you'. That's what I will tell them." Hermione opened her notebook and decided to avoid him for the rest of the day.

"You wouldn't dare say that to my child!" Draco spawned.

Hermione threw her notebook back down, stood up again, and said, "Apparently it's only my child, because I'm the only one taking care of it!" She picked her notebook back up.

"I am so tired of you always getting your way," Draco yelled, "If I want a nanny, and I say I am getting a nanny, and I am paying for said nanny, then we will get a nanny!" He practically stomped his foot.

Hermione glared at him, closed her notebook for what she hoped would be the last time, and said, "You are a spoiled brat, and you are the one who always gets his own way, so fine, get your bloody nanny, but she can take care of you, because you are the biggest baby I have ever seen." She knocked his shoulder with hers, not causing any damaged whatsoever, and she left him alone on the patio.

Hermione was walking up the stairs, when Draco caught up with her. He decided to try to reason with her. "Hermione, listen to me for a moment." She turned. "I had a nanny when I was a child, and look at me."

"Yes, look at you!" She felt that supported her argument, not his.

"What the hell do you mean by that?" he snapped.

Hermione walked back down the stairs, came nose to nose with Draco, and said, "What that means is that you grew up a hateful, spoiled rotten, bigoted brat, who was a shallow, demanding, bully, who didn't even know love until he became a man. Our child will grow up knowing that its parents love it, and cares for it."

"My mother and father loved me!" He could barely speak; he was now angrier than ever.

"How did you know? Did they hug you? Did they read you a bedtime story? Did they sleep on your floor, by your bed, when you were ill? Did they comfort you at night when you had a nightmare? Did they ever say that they loved you? Or did your nanny do all of that?" Hermione had her finger pointed at his chest and had backed him against the front door.

He could not answer her, because the truth was that his nanny _did_ take care of him when he was sick, hurt, or scared. She was the one that read to him, and taught him to tie his shoes, and all the other things parents do. Nevertheless, he knew his parents loved him. They did. Finally, he said, "My parents bought me everything I could ever want! I never needed for anything!" As soon as the words escaped his mouth, he knew it was a terrible analogy.

Hermione suddenly felt very sad for her husband. She sat on the stairs and said, "Draco, that's not love. Possessions and buying someone things isn't love. Did they ever say that they loved you?"

He sat beside her and said, "My mother did, but I know they both loved me. They loved me the only way they knew how."

"Did you call them mummy and daddy when you were little, or mother and father?" she asked.

He didn't see how that was relevant, but he answered, "I called them Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy." He tried to smile, to make her smile, but he was sad. He called them mother and father, so he finally told her that.

"Even when you were a little child? You called them Mother and Father even then?" She wanted clarification.

"Yes, because they were my mother and father," he said simply.

"That's so formal," she said.

"You remember my parents. That's just the way it was," Draco said.

"Don't you want your baby to call you Daddy?" Hermione asked.

He sat and looked at the floor. He wanted that more than anything. He finally said, "I never said I wanted our children to call us Mother and Father, I just said I wanted a nanny, but if you think it's not a good idea, then fine, we won't get a nanny."

Hermione leaned against him and held his hand. He asked her, "Do you think I will be a rotten father?"

"No, because you had a rotten father, so just do everything opposite of what he did with you, and you'll be great," she said joking, or maybe she was serious. He put his arm around her.

"I still say you get night duty," he told her, "and nappies, don't expect me to do nappies, especially dirty ones."

"Fine," she said. She kissed his cheek. "I am going back outside." She stood up and he still had her hand.

"I'll get you a jacket, it's a bit chilly out there," Draco said, as he started upstairs.

Hermione went back outside and he went to get her a jacket. As he walked into their bedroom, he decided at least to keep the advertisement that he wrote, just in case she changed her mind. He went to his top dresser drawer to put the parchment there. She would never look for it there. As he put the parchment under his silk boxers, he saw another piece of parchment. One addressed to his wife, from Harry Potter. One that came for her almost a month ago. One that he was hiding from her. He suddenly felt a wave of guilt. Harry had written to Hermione after they had that big fight a month ago, to offer an apology. The note came by owl, and Hermione was napping when it arrived, so Draco took the note, read it, and promptly hid it. He was not proud of what he did, but as more and more time passed, the harder it was to tell her about the bloody thing. He wanted to tell her, many times, he just had not found the right time yet. He should have just destroyed the damn thing when it arrived.

He decided he would be a man, and show it to her this afternoon, but he would wait until he showed her his surprise first. He had something special planned for her later, and she would be in a good mood afterwards, and he would tell her then. He hoped she would be in a forgiving mood, for he knew something this big would require a lot of forgiving. He went back downstairs, forgetting her jacket, to get her surprise ready for her.

**Early Afternoon, in the back garden:**

Hermione was sitting outside in the garden, enjoying a relatively nice day. She had been having a very good month. Her morning sickness was gone, and she had a sense of well being that surrounded her whole aura. It was hard to say why, but Hermione was happier than she had been in a long time. Even the fight over the nanny with Draco earlier had not dampened her spirits. She had decided to use her time being pregnant wisely. She was trying to write a children's book, a book that would be specifically for her child. She told Draco she was just writing it as a lark. Just something to give their child someday, but the truth was that she hoped it would be published. She had always wanted to write, which in her mind went hand in hand with her love of reading. She had so much free time at the moment that writing seemed to be the perfect fit in her life.

Draco had gone in the house to get her a jacket, because he complained that she was cold. She really wasn't that cold, but he thought she was. She continued to write her book, waiting for his return. She put her manuscript down for a moment and put her arms slightly around her body for warmth. Maybe she was a bit cold. She finally decided that if she wanted her jacket, she would have to go in the house and get it herself. She went inside, not only to find her jacket, but also to find her wayward husband.

He was nowhere to be found, so she went up and got her own jacket and was about to leave the bedroom when she decided to add something to her pro/con list. The past month they had added, "Hermione is more creative and is now a writer", added by Draco, as well as "Blaise is the best looking godfather a brat could ever ask for," added by Blaise, which Hermione changed to 'Blaise is the godfather". He also made a little foot note under the 'bigger boobs' comment, which thankfully, Draco saw before Hermione did and removed it right away. Hermione had added one more thing just this morning. She added, "Hermione's hair looks better than ever."

On the con side, the only addition this month was 'dry itchy skin', added by Hermione. She was going to add a con, which would not really hurt the list, since there were still more pro's. She wanted to add the fact that Draco was becoming more forgetful as her pregnancy advanced. Maybe she would add a pro, if she could think of something. She did not have her wand, she had left it downstairs, and so she went to Draco's bedside table, to retrieve his wand. She opened the drawer and saw a folded piece of parchment in there, under his wand, half hidden under a book. She did not know what compelled her, but she wanted to see what it was. She usually never snooped on her husband. They both appreciated their privacy, so they usually respected each other's privacy as well. She bent down to pick it up. It was a letter addressed to her. She sat on the bed and started to read. It was apparently from Harry. He was asking for her forgiveness. He said he missed her and he could not imagine his life without her in it. It also said that Ginny was threatening to divorce him if he did not make this right, but that was not why he was apologizing, it was because he loved her. He even offered to make an apology to Draco, if that was what she wanted him to do.

This was so confusing. When did he write this? What was it doing under a book in Draco's bedside table? She hadn't seen Harry or Ginny for the last month, so when did this come? She looked at the letter again, and saw that it was dated two days after her fight with Harry, almost a month ago. She put it in her jacket pocket and went back down the stairs.

Draco was sitting out on the patio, in her chair, reading her forsaken manuscript. As she approached she said, "I thought you went to go get my jacket?"

"You have it on already. Why would I have to go get it?" Draco asked.

"I had to go get it," she answered.

"Then why did you want me to get it?" he quizzed.

"You know what, never mind, but get up and give me my book," she said irritated.

He patted the seat next to him and said, "Join me." She sat next to him and he said, "Your little book is very good so far. You're a very talented writer."

She said, "Stop calling it my 'little book' because that sounds like you are belittling the whole thing. Also, you will have to go find something else to read now, because I am ready to continue writing." She stood up and snatched her book from his hands. She did not want to confront him about the letter from Harry, not yet, anyway. It was bound to turn into a fight. He would be angry that she was in his drawer, and she would be angry that he had withheld the letter from her. She was in too good of a mood right now. She would talk to him about it later.

Draco said, "Fine, Granger, write more in your little book. I was reading a real book, anyway. A Muggle book, that is all about what to expect when you are expecting. Did you know that by the 16th week, little Fabio is able to make a fist, he's about as long as the length of the base of your thumb to your index finger, he already can kick, he has reflexes, and his sex is already determined."

"Good thing his sex is determined, since you keep calling him Fabio," she joked.

"So, Granger, you had your appointment yesterday. Did they tell you the baby's sex yet?" Draco asked.

"They told me they do know, but I told them we don't want to know yet. Have you changed your mind?" she inquired.

"No," he answered, "but I thought you wanted to know."

"I did," she answered back, "but you didn't, so I thought we would wait and find out together." She snuggled closer to him. He loved her so much.

The afternoon sun was playing peek-a-boo. It would go behind a cloud, and then reappear, only to hide again. Draco felt a chill. He was afraid it was too cold outside for Hermione and little baby Malfoy. "Come work inside, Granger. I have a surprise for you, anyway." He had been working on something for a while, and he wanted to show her. Hermione stood, mainly because Draco pulled her from her chair. She gathered all her papers and followed him inside. He took her to the little room that was off his study. This room was really not used for anything. When she first moved to Edgewood, she didn't even know it existed. He told her it was just a little room off the study, that when his grandfather lived here, he used it as a bedroom when he would work late and not want to wake his wife.

He led her to the little room and opened the door. The only time she had ever seen it, it was full of old furniture and books. He had emptied it of all its previous possessions, now it was warm and inviting, and it seemed twice as large as before. It had wallpaper that had an intricate floral pattern of roses and hyacinths. The woodwork was painted white, and the wood floor was brightly polished. He had a cherry desk made just for her, it was on one wall, and he put bookshelves on either side. He hung pictures of them together, and from both of their childhoods, on the walls. There was a big glass vase on the desk with the same exact flowers that were on the wallpaper. He put a small red loveseat under a large window; a window in which she was sure was not there before. Across from the loveseat, on the other wall, he placed a baby cradle with beautiful Irish lace linens. This was the first thing that they had brought into their house that was for the baby. The room was so bright and pretty. She turned to him, but before she could ask, what, why, how? He said, "For you. Your own study, sorry it's not larger. This will give you a place to work without being disturbed. The little cradle was made just for our baby, and I had the desk made just for you. Do you like it?"

At that moment, she loved him more than ever. She forgot all about Harry's hidden letter, and she hugged him tight. "Draco, don't let anyone ever tell you that I don't love you, because no one would ever believe how much I love you right now." She kissed his lips slow and sensual. She loved her husband, she was having his baby, and all was right in the world. Nothing could ruin this moment for her.

"Do you love me enough to give me a little bit of afternoon sex?" he said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Probably," she smiled. He took her hand and led her upstairs. They walked, hand in hand, almost like a young couple on their first date. She suddenly felt timid and shy. They had not had sex in a week. No particular reason, but it was the longest they had ever gone without sex.

**Upstairs in the Bedroom:**

He opened their bedroom door and said, "After you." She walked into the middle of the room and stood there with her head to the side, just staring at him. He could not wipe the smile off his face. His wife was the sweetest, prettiest little thing in the world, and she belonged to him. Never mind that she hated when he was possessive of her. She did not need to know the thought that was going on in his mind at the moment. She only needed him.

Draco walked up to her and said, "Are you going to just stand there all day, or are you going to let me ravish you?"

Hermione smirked; she learned it from him, and said, "I'd like to see that." He grabbed her suddenly and planted a kiss on her lips that proved to her he was up for the challenge. He kissed the side of her face and moved down to the column of her neck. She leaned her head far over to the side, to grant him more access. He pulled her jacket off her arms and said, "Why did you put this on? It's just more to take off." Hermione pushed Draco hard and he landed on the bed, shocked, but excited.

"I think you have entirely too many clothes on, as well," she laughed. She pulled off one of his shoes, threw it over her shoulder, and then did the same with the other. She towered over him and started unbuckling his belt. She was going to make love to HIM, she decided. She pulled off his pants. He sat upright and she reached the hem of his shirt and slipped it over his head. Then she took two steps back, pulled down her pants and pulled off her shirt. She turned to give him a side view, pointed at her ever growing belly with embarrassment and said, "Bigger than ever, attractive, no?"

He reached for her hand and had her stand between his knees. "Attractive, yes," he purred. He kissed her round belly and put his hands on both sides of her ever-expanding waist, and he grew so hard for her. He thought that the fact that she was carrying his child the most stimulating thing in the world. He put this hand up to the straps of her bra and pulled the straps down slowly, to expose her ample bosom. He removed her bra, so that now they were both just in their underwear.

He put his mouth on one mound and kissed it on the side, as if it was an old, dear friend. He kissed all around one breast, then the other. He kissed the tip on her right breast, while his hand rolled the second nipple between his thumb and index finger. Her head rolled back and she moaned deep in the back of her throat.

He stood again, his mouth sought hers, and their tongues danced in delight with each other. He was kissing her slowly, setting the pace, which was excruciating to both of them. Hermione kissed Draco's neck and then kissed her way down to his chest. She kissed his nipples, and looked up at him. His look was dark and dangerous. She liked that look.

He growled and grabbed her by the waist and pulled her on the bed. He climbed next to her. Apparently, the earlier plan of taking it slow was gone. He needed her now.

Hermione trembled under his painfully tantalizing touch. He returned his mouth to her breasts, and she put her hands on his back, rubbing them in slow sensual circles. Her breasts were sensitive, so he was gentle, he did not bite down or pull, he merely kissed.

He pulled her knickers down, slowly. He took the same hand and brought it up her leg, his fingers tracing an invisible line. He bent down and kissed the same invisible line with his mouth. His mouth went higher until it was at her entrance. She had not allowed this the last two times they made love, and he was not sure why. He decided to test the water today, to see if she was game. He put his mouth softly upon the flesh of her opening, and darted his tongue out quickly. Her hips jerked upwards. She did not say no.

He kissed and teased her painfully slow, until she started to crest. He stopped.

Without warning, she pushed him off her and actually kicked him with her leg. He thought he must have hurt her somehow, and he was confused. She shoved him on this back and relentlessly started kissing his body. Her hands roamed his length, and she dipped her head and put him fully in her mouth so that the tip of him tickled the back of her throat. One hand was on his hip and her other hand at his base. He was mad with desire. There was no pleasure to match what he felt when his wife made love to him, and when he made love to her in return.

He arched his back; he turned his head to the side to watch her. The look of her beautiful mouth on him tore him apart and he had no control and his release came before he could stop it. He threw his head back and screamed. Hermione kissed her way up his quivering body and before he could recover she straddle him as he lifted his hips.

He cried out again, as the warmth of her body surrounded his length. He wasn't aware of growing hard again, but he had. He wanted her to stay on him forever.

He placed his hands on her hips to help her find a suitable rhythm. She went up and down, only a few times, and then she collapsed on his chest. They were closer to each other than they had ever been with any others, and for so many reasons, but the number one reason was that this was their true completion of one another. Moments like this. Together, forever.

Hermione's climax was intense, but he felt it was incomplete, so he flipped her over and thrust several times into her warmth, until she finally screamed out and shook all over. He pulled out and lay by her side. He raised himself over her and kissed her sweetly on her beautiful mouth. "I could make love to you all day," he whispered in her ear. Then he said something that was unexpected by them both, "Please, don't ever leave me."

He closed his eyes, and she opened hers. Hermione wasn't sure if he said what she thought he said, but if he did, why would he think she would leave him? Was he still that insecure with their relationship? He had his arms tightly around her, ready for sleep apparently, when she pulled out from under this grip and said, "I need to get a shower." He did not let go of her hand until the very last moment. He finally let go, as she was standing beside the bed, and that was when he opened his eyes and looked at her. Hermione looked back down and saw how sad he looked. She sat back down on the bed and put her hand on his face. She smiled to reassure him, and then kissed his cheek. She stood, grabbed her jacket to wrap around her body, and retreated to the bathroom. Once in the bathroom, she took Harry's letter of apology out of the pocket and read it again.

Draco sat upright, and went to his bedside table to get his wand. He wanted to underline the 'great sex' sentence on their pro/con list. He opened the drawer, and saw that the letter Potter had written was gone. He knew that Hermione must have found it. He just put it in the drawer this morning. He was working up the nerve to show it to her. When it arrived, almost a month ago, he hid it from her. He was not sure why. He felt like a child again, back at school, when Potter was his biggest rival. Now he felt like Potter was a rival for Hermione. It was true, he would be happy if Potter was out of Hermione's life forever, and at first, he thought he could achieve that if he hid the letter. However, every day that passed, and with every sad comment she made about how much she missed her friend, he would feel guiltier. Therefore, it was just this morning that he was going to show her the letter finally. He was going to show her the room he decorated for her, make love to her, and then while she was in a pliant and happy mood, he would reveal the letter. She spoiled his plan and now he was not sure what he should do.

Why hadn't she said anything? He was on pins and needles, waiting for her to finish her shower. He decided to run to one of the other bathrooms and grab a shower as well.

Hermione read Harry's letter, put it back in her pocket, sat on the tub, and cried. How was she going to mend all of this? She wanted Harry back, but apparently, her husband didn't want them to be friends anymore. She did not know what to do.

As he was leaving their room, he heard her crying. He was about to open the door, but he did not. He hurt her by hiding that letter. He would have to fix everything, somehow.

**After sex and showers:**

Hermione showered and dressed. She finally felt up to confronting Draco about Harry's letter. She hoped that it did not turn into another fight. They had already fought once that day, and she did not want another.

She found him in his study, sitting in the dark. It was late afternoon, almost dinnertime, but he had the drapes drawn, so the room was almost void of light. Hermione walked past him, for he was sitting in a chair by the hearth, and she opened the drapes on all the windows. Then she lit the lamps. She put her hand in her pocket and held the letter tightly. Her fingers kept clutching the parchment. He wasn't looking at her.

She walked up to the chair, and removed her hand from her pocket, holding the letter. He looked up immediately, and snatched it from her hand. "Prying in my drawers, Granger?" he asked, looking away again.

"I am sure you already know the answer to that, seeing that you don't seem surprise by the fact that I had the letter in my possession. The real question is, why was it hidden away in a drawer, and I must also inquire why you are sitting here in the dark." She leaned on his desk, which was almost in the center of the room, and stared at him intently, waiting for his reply.

Draco stood up, put the letter in his pocket and asked, "Is this the point in the story where we have a big fight?"

"Not necessarily, if you have a valid reason as to why you hid the letter from me," she said calmly. She really didn't want to fight. "Why didn't you give me the letter when it arrived?"

"Which answer do you want first? Why I didn't give it to you, or do I have a valid reason for hiding it, because in my mind the answer to both is one and the same," he said, also calm.

"And that would be?" Hermione led.

"First, why were you snooping through my drawer?" He wanted to change the subject, even though he knew it was hard to divert Hermione when she was keen to know something.

Hermione gave a snort and said, "Is that really the conversation you want to have, right now, because I don't think it is?" He nodded his head, yes, so she said, "Fine, I was looking for your wand, to add something to our pro/con list, since mine was downstairs, and I saw it. It was addressed to me, so I read it, and imagine my shock and horror when I discovered that Harry had apologized, apparently almost a month ago. I hope that adequately answers your question, Malfoy, if not, too bad. Now answer mine." She was becoming angry, even though that was not what she wanted.

Hermione moved across the room, for he was too close to her. For some reason, she wanted to be as far away from him as she could right now, because she could feel how volatile he was becoming, and she thought it was best to removed her and the baby from his immediate vicinity.

He followed her to the other side of the room. He was stalking her like a caged animal. How dare she be the angry one? He was angry. He was angry with her, at Potter, and at himself. Therefore, he was trying to intimidate her, but she must have decided to stand her ground, as she stopped moving away. She asked again, "Now tell me why you hid the letter from me."

He exploded like a cannon, and yelled, "I didn't want you and fucking Potter to be friends anymore, alright? I was hoping you would think he had never apologized, and enough time would pass and you would forget about him!"

She was shaking. She could not believe what he admitted. "Why? Why would you do that? You saw how torn up I was about my fight with Harry? You saw how much I've missed him. Why? Tell me, why?" Hermione was close to tears. Her good day just went out the window.

"BECAUSE I FUCKING HATE HIM!" Draco screamed.

"Draco, that's wrong. He's my best friend!" Hermione could not see his justification for what he did.

Draco continued to yell. "I don't care! I just wish for once you would pick me over him!"

"I DID!" she yelled back. "He insulted you, and I did pick you over him, without even a second thought, and I would do it again if he was in the wrong. He said terrible things and I called him out on it, and demanded an apology, which, by the way, he apparently gave me almost a month ago, unbeknownst to me! Draco, why?" Hermione fell down into his chair, behind his desk, and really started to cry.

Draco felt worse about this than he had ever felt about anything, and that was saying a lot. "I can't help what I did, and I can't help how I feel!" he shrilled. "You'll never believe this now, but I was planning on finally telling you about it. I moved it from my top dresser drawer to my bedside table just today. I swear I was working up the nerve to tell you. I'm so sorry."

"Moving it from one drawer to another was working up the nerve to tell me? After a month? Stop lying!" Hermione demanded.

"Damn it all to Bloody Hell!" he yelled at her. He pulled her from his chair by the shoulders and shook her very hard. "Forgive me for not being perfect, like you and Saint Potter! I'm a human being, with human flaws and human emotions. I have always been jealous of your relationship with him. Even back in school. It's wrong and I can't justify it, but there you are. That's the reason. Its how I feel and I can't change that." He let her go and she dropped back into the chair.

"You're so selfish!" she yelled.

"Of course I am!" He sounded appalled that she would think otherwise. "You knew that when you married me, so I shall not apologize for that!"

Hermione snapped, "Did you ever once think about my feelings? Did you once think about how much it hurt me to think that my best friend had never apologized? To think that I might not see him again? In addition, do you even care what he is thinking? He thinks I rejected his apology! You have to go make this right! You have to go talk to Harry, and admit what you did."

"I WON"T!" he yelled back.

"YOU WILL!" she shouted.

Draco sneered, "You go tell your little lover what I did with his apology, and tell him I don't regret it a bit, and I would do it again. I am sure you two will have a right old time talking bad about me, and all will be right with your golden little friendship once more. He'll hate me as much as he always had, and you can be angry with me, like you always are. The only harm with this whole affair is that you've gone a month without seeing him. Well, how fucking sad for you."

Hermione was still crying. She said softly, "You've not changed a bit, have you?"

"Whoever said that I had?" he yelled. He was so angry that he rushed up toward the chair she was in and put both his hands on each side of her body. She looked genuinely afraid of him. She was sobbing harder and he wanted her to just shut up, because the harder she cried, the more ashamed he felt. He took her by her shoulders and started shaking her again.

"STOP CRYING!" he bellowed.

"LET ME GO!" she cried harder.

He was so frustrated. He was frustrated with her tears, and at his inadequacy at being a good husband to her. He went to leave the room, and as he was walking around the desk toward the door, he saw a glass paperweight whiz by his head. He whipped around and realized that Hermione had thrown it at him, and it barely missed hitting him right on the head.

"You little bitch!" he yelled. He ran toward the desk and in his anger, he took his arm and cleared the top of the desk in one fluid motion. She tried to move from the chair at the exact same time. As all the contents flew off the desk, an old metal inkwell hit Hermione square on the cheek, giving her a nasty red welt and spilling blue ink all over her. Her hand flew to her cheek and she yelped in pain.

He was shocked! He never once intended to hurt her! God, he hurt her. He hurt his pregnant wife. He was turning out just like his father. He was a terrible husband, and he would be a worse father.

He needed to leave immediately, before he let his anger get to the next level, and maybe strike her, or worse. He ran from the house, leaving his crying, pregnant, wife behind.

He ran from the house, but he could never run from his shame.

Hermione stayed in his study until night. The ink stained her clothing. She had cleaned the ink from her skin. After an hour of waiting for him to return, she decided to go upstairs. As she was walking out of the study, she heard a knock at their front door. She went to the door, looked out the side window, and saw Blaise. She really did not want to see him right now, but she let him in none-the-less.

"Come in, Blaise," she said, with little enthusiasm, opening the door wide for him.

"Why don't you make me feel welcomed, Hermione," the handsome man said with a laugh as he crossed the threshold. He turned to greet her and his smile turned to a frown. He rushed to her and said, "What the bloody hell happened to you?"

She didn't know what he meant, and then she realized her clothes were stained with ink. "Oh, I spilled ink," she said, looking at her top and pants.

"No, I mean your face," he said, reaching up and touching the new bruise with his fingertips. She winced when he made contact. She didn't know a bruise had formed.

"Oh, that's nothing. Listen, Draco isn't here," she said, walking toward the living room.

"Where is the bastard? Did he do that?" Blaise was distracted. He was looking around for his friend. Surely, he would never hit his wife, but he had to know for sure, so he asked.

"He didn't mean to," Hermione tried to explain. However, the answer he was looking for was, 'no.' Blaise might be a cad, and a womanizer, and a perpetual playboy, but he would never in his life hit a woman, and he never in his life thought Draco Malfoy would either.

Blaise stormed through the house, yelling, "Where the hell are you, Malfoy?"

"Blaise, I told you, he's not here. We had a disagreement, and he left. I don't know where he went."

"I'll find him, and then he'll have a disagreement with me, I can assure you," Blaise said with a steady voice; however anger was in his countenance.

Hermione decided to tell Blaise everything. They sat on the couch afterwards and she said, "You have turned into quite my little confidant, haven't you, Zabini? First, I confided in you on that terrible day that some refer to as my wedding day, and now this."

He smiled at her and took her hand. "You know, I really am a nice guy. Most of this is an act. But, don't blow my cover, alright?" He put his arm around her shoulder and she accepted his offer of friendship that it entailed, and let her head fall down upon him. He reached up with his hand and stroked her hair.

Just then Draco apparated in the room, followed by Harry Potter. He had gone to Harry and explained everything. He looked worse for wear, however, as he was sporting a black eye. Hermione jumped up from the sofa and ran into Draco's arms. He was shocked. He thought she would still be angry.

"We match," she said quietly, touching his face near his eye. He touched her cheek.

"Do you forgive me, truly, for everything? I am so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. Either with the inkwell or by hiding the letter. I explained everything to Potter, and after he hit me in the face, I convinced him to come with me, to see you."

"You were gone such a long time," She said.

"Well, Potter and I had a lot to discuss. We hashed out many problems. We had a lot of years to cover, you know?" Draco said, as he put his forehead on hers. She just then remembered Harry was there.

She didn't want Draco to question her loyalty, so she said, "Do you mind if I go hug my friend? I haven't seen him in a month." She smiled.

He smiled his consent and she ran to Harry's open arms. "If I had known the git had bruised your cheek, he would have more than a black eye right now. He said he spilled ink on you," Harry said, still holding her tight. "Do you forgive both of us, Hermione?" Harry asked.

Hermione laughed, her day was turning out perfect after all. She held Harry's hand, and then said, "Can you meet me for lunch tomorrow? I have so much to tell you. I'm writing a book." He laughed at that and nodded in affirmation.

Blaise stood and said, "Come on, Potter, let's leave our best friend alone for a while, she needs to talk to her husband."

Draco turned to look at his oldest friend, and said, "I thought I was your best friend."

Blaise shrugged his shoulders. "I've changed sides. I've decided I like your wife better. We really have a lot in common," he joked.

Hermione was about to question him on that matter, but he winked and kissed her cheek and left. Harry said, "I'll see you tomorrow at noon. I love you." He also kissed her cheek.

"Do you love me as well?" Draco asked him, with a completely straight face.

"Not in a million years," Harry said, also completely serious.

Hermione turned to Draco after they left and said, "We can never fight that way again. It's bad for the baby."

He took her hand and led her upstairs. "It's bad for us as well, but as long as you forgive me, I'll agree to anything. I won't hide things from you anymore."

"Don't hide your feeling either," Hermione told him. "Whenever you feel insecure, or angry, or jealous, please, tell me and we'll work it out. You're my husband, and I love you." They reached their bedroom door.

"I need to add something to our list, and then let's get some sleep, I'm exhausted. Talking to Potter is very tiring. I don't know how you've done it all these years," Draco said with a small laugh. She sat on their bed and watched him add two items to their pro/con list. 'Draco has learned humility' & 'Draco will be a good father'. She took his wand and added one more thing, but to the con side. She added, 'Blaise thinks he's my new best friend.' He took his wand back from her and decided to add a con as well. He added, 'No more beauty sleep.'

_(End of Day Three, Fourth Month of Pregnancy)_

* * *

**Reasons Draco and Hermione should have children/shouldn't have children:**

**PRO:**

The children will probably be good looking (Draco)

The children are bound to be smart (Hermione)

The children will be loved (Draco and Hermione)

The children will have lots of opportunities (Draco's money)

The children will have magical ability (That's a given)

Hermione's boobs have gotten larger (Thank you! Draco)

No need for contraception (Draco)

Great sex (Hermione)

They will have a love for reading (Hermione)

Hermione is more creative and is now a writer (Draco)

Blaise is godfather (Blaise)

Hermione's hair is better than ever. (Hermione)

Draco has learn humility (Draco)

Draco will be a good father (Draco)

**CON:**

The children might have bushy/curly hair (Hermione)

The children will be spoiled (Draco's money)

The children might not be smart (Sorry Draco)

The children will be half bloods & might be subjected to bigots (Both of us)

Urinating more than usual (Hermione)

Constipation, how fun. (Hermione)

Dry/Itchy skin (Hermione)

Draco's forgetfulness (Hermione)

Blaise thinks he's Hermione's new best friend (Hermione)

No more beauty sleep (Draco)

_(End of Day 3)_


	4. Day 4 5th Month Sunday A Third We

**all characters belong to JKR**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Day 4, 5th Month, Sunday **

* * *

**Day 4, 16th, May, Sunday, 5 Months Pregnant**

**Sunday morning, in the nursery:**

Granny Smith Apple Green or Sunshine Yellow? Hermione took a step back and squinted first one eye, and then the other. She liked them both. Both were wonderful colours, but Draco and Blaise would be upstairs any moment to paint the nursery, so she had to make her decision soon. Even if Hermione knew the sex of the baby, which she did not, she still would not pick blue or pink for the walls. Those colours just seemed too predictable, too mundane. Hermione wanted something soothing, relaxing, and peaceful. She asked Draco what colour he wanted and he said white. White? He was so boring.

She thought she liked the green the best. She wanted to have murals painted on the walls, depicting the original illustrations from Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit books. Those were her favourites when she was very small. The green would go well with that theme.

Then again, the yellow was nice, too. Sunny. Happy.

No, she definitely liked the green the best. She heard footsteps behind her and then she felt a pair of strong arms wrap themselves around her ever-expanding waist. A kiss was planted on her cheek. "That feels nice," she said.

Now, one of the hands that were wrapped around her belly traveled up to her hair, pulling it away from her neck, and she felt a heavenly kiss being planted right below her ear. She sighed and was about to turn around and kiss her husband when she saw her husband enter the room, right in front of her and say, "Zabini, stop snogging my wife, and in my house, too!"

She turned around quickly and saw her would be lover and she actually shivered, in disgust. She hit him very hard on the shoulder and said, "Eww, I have Zabini germs all over me."

"Don't worry, Granger," Blaise said, "no one has died from my germs, yet." He came back up to her and grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckle.

She gave him a look that said, 'I'm sorry', but when he wouldn't let go of her arm, and turned her arm over to kiss her wrist, then her arm, then the crook of her arm, she looked at Draco and said, "For goodness sakes, Draco, help me."

"Well, at least he can't get you pregnant," Draco said, but he did pull Hermione's arm from Blaise's hold, and gave him a dirty look.

He put Hermione behind his back, and she reached around him and hit Blaise as hard as she could with her opened hand. He hit her back and she hit him a second time.

"STOP!" Draco yelled, "If this is what it's like to have children, then I quit." He gave Blaise a hard shove and scooted Hermione out of the room.

From the hallway Hermione said, "Which colour do you like?"

"I already told you, I like the white walls," Draco told her.

"You're probably just saying that so you don't have to do any work," Hermione expressed.

"I like the green," Blaise answered.

"I wasn't talking to you!" Hermione spat. He made kissing noises to her.

Without further ado, Draco said, "I actually like the green as well." He stared at the colour sample that was affixed to the wall.

Hermione said, "Big surprise, two former Slytherins like green."

Blaise asked, "Well, what colour do you like, love?"

Before she could answer, Draco said, "She likes the green better also, but now she won't admit as much, because we like it. She would rather paint the walls yellow and live with a colour she doesn't like, than agree with us. Watch and learn, Blaise."

Hermione sighed again.

"Answer the question, Granger," Draco implored.

She glared at her husband, and his stupid best friend, and said to both of them, "Just shut up."

Blaise laughed and said, "She's not as articulate as she used to be, is she? Must be the baby sucking out all of her brain cells."

"Why are you alive?" she asked Blaise, with her hands on her hips.

"I'm alive to make your life miserable, haven't you figured that out yet?" the dark handsome man told her.

"Draco, tell this git to leave me alone. Just paint the bloody room already," she said, turning to leave.

He followed her out of the room and said quietly in her ear, "I really will tell him to stop tormenting you, okay? What colour do you want us to paint the room?" He was being so sweet to her.

She put her arms around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder. She sighed for the third time. "What's wrong, Hermione?" Draco asked, kissing her hair.

"Nothing," she said with a deep breath, "if you like the green, we can go with the green. I just want you to be happy." He smiled. She was so transparent, but he would play along.

"Thanks for letting me pick out the colour. It means a lot," he laughed and kissed her lips, "But if you decide later you want the yellow, I will have Blaise repaint the whole thing, all by himself."

He went back toward the room and she went to her bedroom to have a morning nap. Picking out the colour was exhausting.

When he came back in the room, Blaise was on the floor, on his back, singing opera.

"Get to work, wanker," Draco told him.

"I'm taking a break," Blaise said.

"We haven't started yet," Draco reminded him.

Blaise stood up and said, "Are you and Hermione going to Scott Cohn's dinner party tonight?"

Damn, Draco forgot about the party. "I don't think so," he said, hoping they would not go. "Are you going?"

"Yes, of course," Blaise said. "I think your wife really wants to go, she told me so earlier."

"Stop talking to my wife when I'm not around," Draco implored, "and while we're at it, stop flirting with her. She doesn't need your false flattery."

"Who said it's false?" Blaise said languidly. "Your wife is a beautiful woman, who is more attractive now than she's ever been. My hope is that she will tire of you and want to have an affair with me. She can stay married to you, for your money, but she will fall in love with me."

"You really are a wanker," Draco said with narrow eyes, wanting nothing more than to dump the whole can of paint on his friend's head.

"Very true, I am a wanker. So are you," Blaise reminded him.

Draco started painting and then turned to his friend and said, "You're just joking, right? You don't really think Hermione is attractive, do you?"

"Are you serious?" Blaise asked, "Only a blind man wouldn't think your wife is attractive."

"Whatever," Draco said, still painting, but suddenly in a rotten mood.

As Hermione lay on the bed, she looked at their pro/con list. They had added two more pros and two cons in the last month. One of the cons was 'bigger feet'. Hermione went to buy a new pair of shoes the other day, and her feet were larger. Seriously, that was uncalled for, wasn't it? She also listed 'stretch marks'. She only had one, and it was small, but it made her angrier than all the other cons combined. Draco crossed out the 's' on the end of the word 'marks' since she only had one, and as previously stated, it was very small.

On the pro side she listed, 'food taste better', because for some odd reason, it did. She wasn't carried away with all the 'eating for two' hype, or any such tripe. However, food was a pretty important thing in her life right now. She also listed, 'organization' as a pro. Hermione always had a very orderly life, but recently she was feeling more structured than ever. She was getting all the little things done that she had always wanted to do, like putting old pictures in albums, and throwing away outdated clothes. She had read that women "nested" during pregnancy, so that must be the reason.

She turned to her side and put Draco's pillows behind her back. She should put back pain on the list, but she didn't want to put anymore con's then she had to. To tell the truth, if she was going to put a con, she would put "increase sex drive, but Draco's not interested". They hadn't had sex in ten days. Ten days! She tried not to think of it, and she shut her eyes to try to nap.

She was soon dreaming. She dreamt she was outside, in a tall forest, and there were wolves all around. One looked a lot like Blaise, and one was white with grey eyes, that she was sure represented Draco. She was holding a basket, which she assumed had food within, but then she heard a baby's cry. Her baby was in the basket, and she had to protect it from the hungry wolves. She couldn't run, as the pack was circling her and the baby. She screamed and woke up with a start. Draco came running into the bedroom. He ran up to her and hugged her tightly.

"Did you have a bad dream?" he asked.

"Yes, but it's nothing. You and Blaise were hungry wolves trying to eat me and the baby," she explained.

"Is that all?" he asked, with a sincere laugh. She was so silly. He stroked her hair. Without warning, she yelled again. "WHAT?" he yelled back. He was right here, so she couldn't have had another bad dream already.

She looked at him with wide eyes and said, "The baby moved! It moved!"

"Really?" he was shocked. He touched her belly. "I don't feel anything."

"It might not happen again, but it definitely happened," she said, overjoyed. Her baby moved. Really moved.

Blaise, the bastard, came in the room, holding a paint brush and sat on the bed next to Draco and put his free hand right on her belly and said, "Maybe it's just gas."

"GET OFF MY BED!" Hermione bellowed at him.

"Get a grip, Granger. It's my godchild, I think I have some rights here," he said.

"Draco!" Hermione yelled, and he knew exactly what she meant in that yell.

"Blaise, please get back to work and leave us alone," Draco said, running his hand through his hair. He'd had enough of the man as well.

Blaise left the room, mumbling under his breath, "I'm the fucking godfather and I can't touch the mother."

"Draco," Hermione begged, "please, talk with him. Tell him to bring it down a notch or two." Just then, the baby moved again. Draco still had his hand on her stomach and that time he definitely felt the move. He smiled and looked at her, raising his eyebrows.

"Wow," he said.

Hermione smiled brightly at her husband and said, "It makes it all seem so real, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does," Draco told her, "It's weird to think that this little baby comes from both of us, and it's a real little person and it's right in there right now. It's like a miracle, an amazing combination of the best of both of us. A reflection of the incredible journey that we have taken."

"You're sweet," she said, stroking his face.

Draco said, "You're a miracle as well," and then he kissed her sweetly. "I love you so much, Granger." He leaned down and said to Hermione's belly, "I love you too, little chap."

"Chap? Is it a he again?" she asked her husband.

"How would I know what it is?" he answered coyly.

"Draco, do you know something I don't?" she asked.

He just looked at her and said, "I swear, no more secrets, especially something this big. I don't know the sex. I just said chap, it doesn't make a difference to me what the baby is. I will love it even if it has curly hair and bucked teeth."

She hit his arm hard, and said, "Would you love it if it had dark skin and black hair?"

"What, are you trying to lead me to believe that the baby isn't mine, and that it is in fact, Zabini's?" Draco asked.

"Who knows?" she answered, "I probably got pregnant on our wedding night, and Blaise and I did spend some time alone that night."

"Listen, I know you would never be desperate enough, or stupid enough, to sleep with Blaise, so don't even start," Draco laughed, "I mean seriously, can you imagine, the baby would be beautiful, but a rock has more intellect."

Hermione was smiling and Draco heard a voice from behind him say, "Yes, but who care's how much intellect a rock has if he's as good-looking as I am." Blaise came in and took his paintbrush and stuck it in Draco's beautiful blonde hair.

Draco looked at his wife and said, "You knew he was there, didn't you?"

"Turn about is fair play," was her answer.

"Come here my darling," Blaise said to her, offering his hand, "Our baby's nursery is finish, thanks to me. Between you and me, Draco is one lazy son of bitch." She took Blaise's arm, to Draco astonishment, and walked to the baby's room. Draco removed the paintbrush from his hair.

**The Nursery**

The room looked beautiful. Somehow, the murals she wanted were already painted on the walls. The built in shelves were lined with books and stuffed animals, and a crib was set up in the corner, in a deep red cherry wood, with a canopy and beautiful green gingham linens. "Hey, how did you get all of this done so quickly?" she asked.

Draco, who was standing in the doorway said, "Magic, my dear."

Hermione walked over and touched the books. "Nice touch," she said, holding one close to her chest, and then placing it back on the shelf.

"Your baby will be a little bookworm, just like its mummy," Draco said.

"Our baby," she reminded him.

"I have to go get ready for the party tonight. I still need to find a date, unless you would like to go with me, Hermione?" Blaise inquired.

"Maybe another time," she said.

"Well, my services are no longer needed, I'll be leaving. See you there," Blaise said, then he disapparated.

"What party?" Draco turned to his wife, pretending he didn't know to what Blaise was referring.

"Gee, I've only told you about this three times now, but I guess the fourth time will be the charm." Hermione rolled her eyes and said, "Scott Cohn is having a dinner party tonight, and we are invited, along with most of our friends from the Ministry. He and his wife are celebrating their tenth anniversary."

"I'm not going," Draco stated, as he left the nursery and took off his shirt. "Now, I need to get a shower and get this paint out of my hair." He walked in the bathroom and turned on the shower.

"Why don't you want to go?" Hermione asked, following him in the bathroom.

Draco said, "I haven't forgiven the bastard for the tribulations he caused when we were engaged."

"Draco, he didn't really do anything. He didn't know he was revealing any secrets to me. Anyway, I like him and his wife, and he's been your friend and co-worker for a long time. We're going," she confirmed.

He stepped under the showerhead and pulled the shower door shut. "You can go, but I'm not."

"But, Draco," Hermione began, "there will be a lot of our friends there, and a lot of people don't know that we're expecting a baby yet, and this will be the perfect opportunity to let everyone know."

He stuck his head out of the shower and said, "If you just want to go to show off your pregnancy, then I will take out a full page ad in the Prophet to announce it to everyone, but I am really not going." He was firm, but not mean. He just really didn't want to go. He hated Scott for all the harm he caused before Draco and Hermione got married.

"Okay," she said in a sad voice, sitting on the commode.

"Don't try making me feel bad," he said, still in the shower.

"I said, okay," she pleaded.

"Yes, in a sad little voice," Draco said.

"It's just, I will miss you tonight," she said with a small voice, sincerely. Then she said, "Maybe Blaise will escort me, if he doesn't have a date yet. Or, I could go with Harry and Ginny."

Draco was out of the shower, and drying his body with a towel. "That's stupid. You are not going alone, or with anyone else. What will people think?"

"They will think my husband is a jerk who doesn't care for his wife," she told him, standing up and opening the door to walk out.

"Granger," he growled, grabbing her arm, "don't walk out thinking that this is over. You are not going out on a date with Blaise. He really does have the 'hots' for you right now. He told me so earlier. I told him he was sick, but still…"

He couldn't finish that sentence, because Hermione interjected, "It's sick to find me attractive?" She removed her arm from his hand and walked out of the room.

He followed.

"I didn't mean it like that," he tried to explain, "I meant because you're my wife and all, and you're pregnant."

"So, you think it's sick because I'm pregnant? Why, because I'm a big fat, Mudblood?" she challenged.

"You know what I mean, and I am not fighting with you right now. Also, no one even said that word," he said, disappearing in the closet. As he was picking out clothes to wear he said, "I am just very protective of you and little Daphne right now, and he's being a sick fuck to lust after my wife. I'm the only one who should lust after you."

"If you are lusting after me, then why haven't we made love in ten days? You do think I'm a big fat Mudblood, don't you?" she asked, standing in the doorway of their walk-in closet.

"For Merlin's sakes!" he exclaimed, "You are insane. You pick the most stupid things in which to argue." He pushed past her.

"Our not having sex is stupid?" Hermione asked him, without anger in her voice.

"You are a master manipulator!" Draco yelled at her. "Is this about Blaise, me, the dinner party, or our sex life? Let's cut to the chase, and get this argument over with already. Spit it out, Granger."

Hermione said, "Fine, Malfoy, you act like you don't want to have sex with me because I'm too tired, but in fact, you're the one who doesn't want me. The last two times I tried to initiate sex, you turned me down."

He looked at her incredulously, and said, "When have you ever initiated sex?"

"Last Tuesday, I asked for a back rub," she explained.

"And I gave you a back rub, as commanded. I didn't know 'back rub' was a euphemism for sex nowadays," Draco snapped.

"Commanded? I commanded you to rub my back? Is that how you see it? You wouldn't want to touch me unless I command you?" Hermione shouted.

"Fine, you requested strongly." Draco rolled his eyes. "Tell me when was the other time, when you asked me to pass the salt at the breakfast table? Is that code for sex, now? Does pass the salt mean, 'shag my brains out'?" Draco bemused.

Hermione said, "If you must known, last night I started rubbing your arm in bed, and I tried to cuddle up next to you and you turned over and went to sleep."

He did do that, but he was just tired, that's all. He didn't know she would see it as a rejection. He said, "Did it ever dawn on you that I was just really tired?"

"That was never a valid excuse from me when you wanted sex. As I recall, you once told me to go ahead and sleep, that you could have sex with me anyway," she said faintly.

"That was a joke," he smiled. "Hey, Granger, I'm sorry. It's nothing cognizant on my part. I didn't even know it had been ten days. Why don't we stay home tonight and spend the whole night in bed making love? Wouldn't that be better than some bloody party?"

"I want to go to the party, Draco," Hermione stated, "I miss seeing people and talking to them."

"What am I, a piece of lint you found on your jumper? I'm a person. You talk to me," Draco said, feeling maligned.

"It doesn't matter. Forget it. This is getting old. I don't care anymore." She left the room and walked into the nursery.

He walked in and said, "I want to point out one thing, for future reference, you are the one passing on sex this time."

"Maybe Blaise will have sex with me, he likes me, apparently," Hermione said with an air of indifference.

Draco pulled on her arm and said, "That's not even remotely funny."

"Why, because I am a fat Mudblood?" Hermione asked again.

Draco said, "What does your being a Mudblood have to do with the price of tea in china? Anyway, you're not a fat Mudblood, you are a pregnant Mudblood."

"You're mean," she pouted.

"If you get to call yourself that, so do I," he told her. He kissed her cheek and said, "What you really are is an incredibly beautiful and sexy woman whom I love very much, and I would be happy to be your escort to any other dinner party, but not to Cohn's." He kissed her other cheek and then he said, "I have some errands to run, I'll be home by dinner."

**An Afternoon of Daydreams:**

He left her alone in the nursery with her thoughts. Her thoughts were telling her to go to the party without him. She went to one of the house elves, and asked them to go get her grandmother's rocking chair from the attic. She wanted to put it in the baby's room. The little elf came back in no time, dusted the chair off, and placed it in the corner. Hermione sat in it and started rocking back and forth.

It was comforting, sitting in the chair that her grandmother rocked her father, and her mother had rocked her. Now, Hermione would rock her own little baby in the chair. She would rock it to sleep, sing to it, and comfort its tears. She rocked back and forth, holding her stomach, and imagined what her little baby would look like. Would it have grey eyes like Draco, or brown like hers? Brown eyes were dominant over light coloured eyes, so it probably would have brown. She already loved this little baby, so much, and she didn't even know what it looked like. She didn't even know if it was a boy or girl. Nevertheless, it was her baby, and she loved it more than she had ever loved anything in her life.

She suddenly felt very melancholy. Did her parents love her this much? Of course they did. That made her sad. They must have been so scared for her during the war. She was, after all, their baby. She was sad thinking that they would never get to know her child. Her child was a part of them, just as it was a part of her. She got up from the rocker, and picked up one of the little teddy bears Draco had put on the shelf. She sat back down and rocked the bear and sang it a lullaby.

When Draco left the house, he was going to go get Granger a present. A sort of, 'I'm sorry we aren't going to the party tonight' present. He also wanted to make up for not having sex in ten days. He really hadn't noticed. How could he have not noticed? Oh well, the present would be an 'I'm sorry we haven't had sex in ten days', present, too.

He had wanted to get her something special for a while, so no better time. He walked into the jewelry store with a spring in his step and a smile on his face. He would give her his present, and make up for what they had been lacking during the last ten days.

When Draco got home, he heard her lilting voice carrying through the house. He had never heard her sing. He didn't even know she could sing. She had a very pretty voice. He walked up the stairs and saw her rocking in a rocking chair, singing to a little brown teddy bear. She looked sad.

"Where did the rocker come from, Granger?" he asked.

"You scared me!" She stopped rocking and put the bear on the floor. "It was my grandmother's. I had it taken out of storage and I thought it would complete the room."

He walked up to her and cupped her chin. "What are you doing in here, all by your lonesome?"

"Daydreaming," she lied.

He asked, "Are you imagining what the room will look like once there is a screaming little bundle of joy here?" He pulled her up from the chair, sat down, and put her on his lap. "Comfortable," he commented.

"Quite," she said, leaning against his chest.

He pulled out a ruby and diamond necklace from his pocket and said, "Here."

"Nice."

"I thought so."

"Why?"

"No reason," he said, shifting her to his other knee. She had gained weight, but he didn't care. "So, are you still going to this party without me? Because, I thought if you wanted to stay home, we could make up for lost time, have some fun, you know?"

She turned to face him and said, "I'm sorry you don't want to go, so please don't be angry, but I'm still planning on going."

"Are you going with your boyfriend Blaise?" Draco drawled.

"He is growing on me," she said. She stood up and said, "Thank-you for the necklace, it's lovely. I'll wear it tonight. I need to go get ready. We can have some fun when I get back." She left him alone in the nursery sitting in her grandmother's rocking chair. Was she really going to go without him? She didn't seem upset or angry, so he knew that she did indeed intend to go, with or without him. Well, no wife of Draco Malfoy's would go to a fancy dinner party without him. He got up and decided to get ready for the party.

He walked in the bedroom, looked at her as she was undressing and said, "Are you really going without me?"

She said, "I'm only going without you if you keep acting like a prat."

"Well, I guess you _aren't_ going without me," Draco said, as he started to undress. "Where the hell are my dress robes, anyway?"

**At the party:**

There wasn't one witch or wizard at the party who didn't look wonderful, but Draco still thought his wife looked the best of all. She had on a beautiful dress of deep magenta, and she definitely had that 'pregnancy glow'. It was apparent to everyone in the room that she was pregnant. Men came up and clapped Draco on the arm and said things as far ranging as "Congratulations" to "Lucky man". Women came up to him and said, "You must be so happy." 'Well, you know what people', Draco thought, 'I am lucky, happy and so yes, congratulate me'.

Draco sat at one end of the long table, talking nonsense with the Minster of Magic, while Hermione was all the way at the other end, sitting right next to the host. What was it with these fancy dinner parties, and putting wives so far away from husbands, and sitting them right next to a stupid bloody bastard?

After dinner, the men went outside to have brandy and smoke cigars. The women went to the sitting room to have sherry and gossip about their husbands. Draco snuck back into the house and got Granger's attention from the foyer. She excused herself and walked toward him. He grabbed her and pushed her into a coat closet.

"Tell me why we came to this boring thing?" he asked, kissing her neck.

"Seriously, Draco," Hermione chastised, "You pick now to get randy?"

He said, "You look so beautiful." He trailed kisses down her neck to her shoulder.

"Follow me, you prat," she said, taking his hand and leading him upstairs to one of the bathrooms. They started to enter, when they were shocked to find Blaise Zabini in there with Scott's wife, and they were definitely not just going to the loo together. Hermione yelled, "Oh my goodness!" and shut the door.

Draco laughed and said, "Poor Scott, but it serves him right. He's cheated on her all these years."

"But it's their anniversary!" Hermione shook her head and said, "What is it with Blaise and married women?"

Just then, Blaise and Scott's wife both exited the loo, and she ran down the hall embarrassed and he just said, "Teaches us to lock the door next time, doesn't it, Malfoy? Anyway, the loo's free now, if you to want to give it a go," then he turned to Hermione and said, "Don't fear, precious, I lust after her, but I love only you." He kissed her cheek and she made a face that expressed terrible loathing mixed with a heaping of disgust.

"It's a shame such good looks are wasted on a personality like that. He's not our godfather, agreed?" Hermione said seriously.

"Actually, I do agree. If he touches you again, I may have to castrate him," Draco commented, watching the man's retreating figure.

"Let's go home, Draco," Hermione said, "We have our own bathroom we can make love in."

"Really, you aren't playing with my emotions are you?" he asked earnestly.

"No, I'm serious, but I really do have to use the bathroom for its intended purpose first," Hermione said as she disappeared in the bathroom. Draco leaned against the door.

Just then, Harry Potter came walking down the hall. "There's a line at this bathroom, too?" he asked.

"No, I'm waiting for Hermione," Draco said. Then he added, "Potter, Hermione and I have been talking, and we would really like you to be our baby's godfather. We understand, well, I understand, your earlier misgivings, but just think about it this time, okay?"

Harry was surprised. He nodded and said, "I'll think about it and get back with you." He was about to go find another bathroom when he heard Hermione shouting for Draco from inside the bathroom. He turned back around in a flash.

"Draco, come in here quick!" Hermione yelled. Draco ran in the bathroom, with Harry Potter at his heels.

"What?" Draco regarded his wife. She was standing at the vanity holding her stomach.

"Something's wrong. I'm bleeding and I have terrible cramping," she said, and then as if to emphasize what she said, she doubled over in pain. Draco looked at Potter, and he felt helpless. All reasonable thought left his brain.

Harry said, "Get her to St. Mungos right away. I will go get Ginny and Ron and we'll meet you there."

Draco nodded and grabbed his wife's hand. "Can you apparate?" he asked. She said no. He told her he would apparate them both. He wrapped his arms around her and took her directly to the hospital.

When Harry and Ginny and Ron appeared, Draco was pacing outside the examine room, just walking up and down the hall. "They won't tell me a bloody thing!" Draco yelled.

At that precise moment, a healer walked out of the examine room. "Mr. Malfoy, your wife and baby will be fine. She went into pre-term labor, but the contractions have stopped and she should be fine. This happens sometimes. She will just need to stay on bed rest for the next couple of weeks. If she gets over this hump without any further difficulties, then the bed rest can be amended."

"Can she go home?" Ginny asked.

"Not tonight, probably tomorrow," the healer said, and he added, "You may go in to see her now."

Harry said, "Let her know we were here. I don't think we should bother her right now. I'll stop by tomorrow." He shook Draco's hand, which shocked Draco, and then Hermione's friends left.

He walked in the room and saw his wife sleeping. He decided not to wake her up. He would let her sleep. He sat beside her and said, more to himself than to her, "I don't want to lose either one of you, Granger, so you better take care." He kissed her forehead and sat in the chair next to her bed. "It's going to be a long month," Draco said, stroking her head with his hand.

* * *

**Reasons Draco and Hermione should have children/shouldn't have children:**

**PRO:**

The children will probably be good looking (Draco)

The children are bound to be smart (Hermione)

The children will be loved (Draco and Hermione)

The children will have many opportunities (Draco's money)

The children will have magical ability (That's a given)

Hermione's boobs have gotten larger (Thank you! Draco)

No need for contraception (Draco)

Great sex (Hermione)

They will have a love for reading (Hermione)

Hermione is more creative and is now a writer (Draco)

Blaise is godfather (Blaise)

Hermione's hair is better than ever. (Hermione)

Draco has learn humility (Draco)

Draco will be a good father (Draco)

Food taste better (Hermione)

Hermione is more organized (Hermione)

**CON:**

The children might have bushy/curly hair (Hermione)

The children will be spoiled (Draco's money)

The children might not be smart (Sorry Draco)

The children will be half bloods & might be subjected to bigots (Both of us)

Urinating more than usual (Hermione)

Constipation, how fun. (Hermione)

Dry/Itchy skin (Hermione)

Draco's forgetfulness (Hermione)

Blaise thinks he's Hermione's new best friend (Hermione)

No more beauty sleep (Draco)

Hermione's feet are bigger (Hermione)

Stretch marks (Hermione) changed to stretch **mark, **without an 'S' by Draco.

_(End of day four)_


	5. Day 5 6th Month Monday A Third We

**all characters belong to JKR**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Day 5, 6th Month, Monday **

* * *

**Day 5, June 17, Monday, 6 Months Pregnant**

**Hermione's bedroom, late morning:**

It was unseasonably warm. Hermione was on her bed in her room at Edgewood and fanning herself with a book. She originally was supposed to have complete bed rest for two to three weeks due to premature labour. Instead, a month later, she was still an invalid, still reposed to her bed, the duration yet to be determined. She had been feeling much better, and the healer actually had given her a reprieve, when suddenly her pre-mature labour started again. That was two weeks ago. So, there she lies and there she waits.

Boredom was only a part of her problem. She felt like she had no control over her life. She couldn't do what she wanted, she couldn't get ready for the baby, and she couldn't even get out of bed, except for going to the bathroom, bathing, and her visits with the healer. Life was unfair.

Draco's birthday was a few days ago, and he spent the whole day in bed with her. He had been invited out to celebrate with his friends, but he said he would rather be with his wife. He was getting on her nerves, if the truth was told. He was just always _there_. Actually, he was didactic and conversant. He thought he knew everything there was to know about pre-term labor and pregnancy in general, and he felt the need to be tutorial to her at least once, if not twice, a day.

"Granger," he would say, coming to recline in bed with her, "did you know that sometimes with pre-term labour, you can develop flu like symptoms? You're not running a fever, are you?"

Another time he plopped down on her bed and said, "Did you know that in the last trimester, oral sex is a no-no. It seems that blowing air into the vagina can cause an air embolism." All Hermione thought was, no troubles there, since we will probably never have sex again.

The worst time, he came into the room, spouting his newfound knowledge, and he said, "I know why your feet got bigger. It seems that the blood vessels in the growing uterus carry blood to the legs and feet, which results in fluid retention. So see, your feet aren't actually larger, they are just retaining fluid. We should mark that off the con list."

He was driving her batty!

Harry stopped by often, and they would sit and talk. Ron had stopped by a few times and he would play wizard's chess with her, in which he would win, or he would just sit and talk. Ginny stopped by last week to tell Hermione about the plans for her baby shower next month. She had better be out of this damn bed by then.

**Draco's study, at the exact same moment:**

Draco was sitting in his study, wondering if he should go check on his wife. He had just checked on her 30 minutes ago, but he felt she was particularly restless today. The last time she was restless, she took it upon herself to go ahead and get out of bed. She said she had things to do in the baby's room. That was a week ago. It resulted in terrible cramping and some slight bleeding. She was so stubborn. She thought she knew more than the healers. She was starting to irritate him, if the truth was told.

He was trying to read every book she had previously bought about pregnancy, since she didn't seem interested in reading even one. He felt one of them should be informed.

Draco was keeping a chart, hidden in his top desk drawer, of what to expect each week of her pregnancy. He was beginning to act too much like his wife, with charts and lists and such. He checked his chart just today. She was soon to be in her third trimester. She was a little over 26 weeks pregnant. That meant the baby's hands could move. In two weeks, she would be at the end of her 2nd trimester. Then at 28 weeks, the baby could open and close its eyes, was sleeping for periods of 20 to 30 minutes at a time, and moved the most when the mother was lying down. At week 29, the baby moved even more, and at week 30, the baby could even hiccup!

He was afraid to touch her. Silly, maybe, but that was how he felt. They had not been intimate since before her fifth month. Now, that wasn't even a possibility. He wanted her more and more, everyday, for he still found her beautiful and sensual, he just couldn't get over the fact that if he even just so much as kissed her, he would want it to lead to more. What if he couldn't stop himself? It was better to keep his passion level in check. Chaste kisses on the cheeks, touching her hand. That was all he could handle right now.

He also read in one of the books that semen contained a chemical that may stimulate contractions, and that was the last thing they needed.

**Back to Hermione:**

Hermione knew Draco was repulsed at the sight of her. She could tell. Maybe he found her unattractive. He never kissed her anymore, or embraced her. She was lonely and starving for affection and stimuli. Frankly, she would even welcome Blaise's attention right now. That was a good idea. Draco was going to the Manor today; he said he was picking up a few things for the baby. Probably a silver plated rattle with the Malfoy family crest and a platinum plated baby bottle. That made Hermione smile. She wouldn't be surprised if those were indeed the things he was going to go get. She didn't care. Hermione didn't need Draco to keep her company. She would call Blaise to come visit while Draco was gone.

**Back to Draco:**

Draco had to go to the Manor today. There were a few things that were his, when he was an infant, which he wanted to get for the baby. The first thing was a sterling silver picture frame, which he would have engraved with the baby's name and birth date. It housed his father's picture when he was an infant, and then it held his, and now it would hold the baby's picture. Another item was an enchanted music box that would play whenever the baby needed soothed. There was also a silver plated rattle with the Malfoy family crest on it. Hermione would get a laugh out of that one, he thought.

**Draco and Hermione, Later that morning:**

Draco walked past her on the bed, coming from the bathroom. "I'll be back shortly. Don't get up under any circumstances. Call one of the elves if you need anything," he told her. He leaned down and kissed her cheek. She turned her head. He sat on the bed and said, "You'll be able to get up soon. I know this is rotten luck and that you're bored." He put his hand up and touched her hair. She still faced the other direction. "Goodbye, Granger."

As soon as he left, she started to cry. Why was everything turning out so wrong? She got up to go to the bathroom. She called one of the house elves and asked them to see if Mr. Zabini could come over. She didn't really want to see him, she just wanted to upset her husband, because he was upsetting her right now, whether he knew it or not.

**Blaise and Hermione, alone in her bed:**

Hermione was surprised when she came out of the bathroom and Blaise was sitting back on her bed, up against the headboard. "That was fast," she commented.

"I'm at your beck and call," Blaise said with a conniving grin, "What do you need?"

Hermione just stood there and then she started crying. He jumped off the bed and said, "Come on, there's no need to cry. I know you love me, but you mustn't cry." He was a fool, she thought.

He pulled her over to the bed and sat her down. "Time to fess up, Mrs. Malfoy, and tell me what's really wrong," Blaise said to her.

"I can't do anything but lay here all day, I can't even get ready for the baby, and my husband doesn't love me anymore," she said between sobs.

"Draco loves you, you stupid bint," Blaise said.

She hit him hard on the chest and said, "Don't call me names."

"Well, stop acting like a stupid bint, and I won't have to call you that," he said plainly.

She fell into his arms and cried and he let her cry, for he really had no choice. After almost 20 minutes, he said, "Granger, I want you to promise me one thing," she looked at him and he said again, "will you promise?" Hermione nodded yes and so he continued, "just once before I die, will you have sex with me?"

She pushed him off the bed, and he rolled on the floor laughing. She grinned and said, "Can't you ever be normal?"

He stood up and said, "Call Potter if you want a shoulder to cry on, and call Draco if you want affection. With me, this is what you get."

"You can go," she said, turning over and facing the other direction. Blaise crawled up on the bed again and kicked off his shoes and put his head upon the pillows.

"I would rather stay, now that I'm here," he told her, turning now so he was facing her back. She turned to face him as well.

"Why aren't you married?" Hermione asked him.

"Is this a proposal?" he asked in jest.

"No, I'm taken," she confessed with a grin.

"If I could find a girl like you, Granger, I would be married in a heartbeat, but that bastard Draco got to you first," he said, stroking her hair.

"Did Draco date a lot before he started dating me?" she asked him.

Blaise sighed and said, "Sure, a bit. Why?"

"I just wondered," she said softly.

"He was never serious with anyone. Not until he found you," Blaise told her with a smile.

"Who did he date after school?" Hermione inquired, "Anyone I would know?"

"I don't know who you know," Blaise answered.

"Just tell me some names," Hermione smiled.

To keep her happy, and because she was smiling so sweetly at him, he decided to accommodate her, so he said, "He dated a girl name Sarah Swenson at Uni. A girl named Tracy Pollard, for maybe a week, and who else, oh yes, Patricia Molihan. And here's one you might remember from school, though she was quite a bit older than us, Daphne Greengrass."

All of the sudden, Hermione sat up in bed, and asked, "Did you say Daphne Greengrass?"

"Yes, do you remember her?" Blaise asked.

She really only remembered the name, which was the exact same first name that Draco constantly called their unborn baby. "How long did they date?" Hermione quizzed.

"Oh, for maybe a year, I don't know for sure. Of all of the aforementioned women, he was perhaps the most serious about her, but she was a pureblood, and a pureblood marrying a pureblood was indeed frowned upon, as you know," Blaise said, drawing small circles on her leg. She didn't even notice. He dated someone named Daphne, and he called their baby Daphne, and he was serious about her, but couldn't marry her because of the pureblood marriage sanctions imposed by the Ministry. She lay back down and started crying again. Blaise didn't know what he had said to upset her, so he just embraced her in his arms.

Just then, Draco came walking into their room, saw Hermione in Blaise's arms, on their bed, and she was apparently crying. He took a deep breath, said to himself, 'I shall not kill,' and then said aloud, "What in the bloody blue blazes is going on here, Blaise?"

"Nice use of alliteration," Blaise said as he looked up, but he didn't move, and then he had the audacity to tell Draco to sod off, and couldn't he see Hermione was upset. Well, yes, Draco could see she was upset, but he still didn't know why Blaise was in bed with his wife.

He walked over to the bed, grabbed Blaise's arm and yanked him away from Hermione. Draco replaced him on the bed and said, "What's wrong, Granger?"

"Why do you call our baby Daphne?" she asked.

"It's just a name. I don't know. It's not like I like that name that much. I have no real reason for calling the baby Daphne or Fabio, why?" Draco asked in return.

"Did you ever date anyone named Fabio?" Hermione was sitting up again.

"No, but…" before Draco could finish his sentence, he realized why she was asking.

He turned to look at Blaise the wanker, who was studying their Pro/Con list and who asked, "Why does it now say Potter is the godfather?" and as he turned around to ask this, Draco hit Blaise right in the nose.

Hermione popped out of bed, and ran over to Blaise, who was bleeding profusely. "What the hell, Malfoy?" Blaise asked from the floor.

"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" Draco yelled at the man. He reached down for Hermione, grabbing her harder than he should, and pushed her toward the bed. He was so sick and tired of all his purportedly good friends causing undo friction and dissension between his wife and him.

Blaise stood up and said, "Fuck off, Malfoy. I can't help it if you still have secrets from your wife. Don't blame me because you don't know how to be honest with her. I didn't know she wasn't aware of your past." He held his bleeding nose and turned to Hermione and said, "Seriously, if you ever come to your senses and decide to leave this fellow, let me know." Then he turned to Draco again and said, "And when you are prepared to be a man, and start being truthful with everyone, including yourself, then maybe we can mend this friendship, because frankly, as far as I'm concern, it's been a one way friendship for a long time, and even I don't deserve that." Then he disapparated away.

Draco sat on the bed and hung his head in his hands.

"Did you love Daphne Greengrass?" Hermione asked.

"No," Draco said sharply, with his head still in his hands.

"Have you ever loved another woman, I mean, I know you married me, but I just want to know," she said.

He turned to look at her and said, "No, you are absolutely the one woman I have ever loved, and will ever love, okay?" He stood up and started pacing. "What was Blaise doing here?"

"I needed some company. I'm lonely and sad and bored, and I also thought he would give me a bit of attention and affection, two things that are sorely lacking in our relationship right now," Hermione said, and then she turned back over to her side, away from him.

She had a point.

"Hermione?" Draco asked, touching his wife's shoulder.

"What?'

"I'm sorry. You're right, I haven't given you much affection lately, and for that I'm truly sorry," he stated.

"You aren't getting your affections elsewhere, are you?" Hermione asked with a hitch in her voice.

"I wouldn't cheat on you, I promise," he said, crawling up beside her and holding her close.

"Why won't you even kiss me right now?" she asked, turning over to recline on her back. He started stroking her face.

"I'll kiss you now, if you would allow," he declared.

Hermione asked, "Can you answer my question first?"

"I've been afraid," he admitted to her, hiding his face in her neck. "I still want you so much. I get hard sometimes just thinking about you, and I know we can't take it any further, and well, what if I can't stop? What if I start something and I just lose control and end up hurting you or the baby?"

She brought his face level with hers and said, "Is that true? Because, I thought you just found me abhorrent or unappealing."

He smiled at her and kissed her lips gently. He fell against her on the bed, holding his weight up with his elbows, and he touched her face with the back of his hand. He bent down to kiss her again, this time slowly and surely. He hadn't even realized how much he missed kissing her like this. He kissed her harder and opened her lips with his. He explored her entire mouth with his tongue, and his hands roamed freely upon her body, taking care to stay above her belly. He put the palm of one hand over her left breast, and squeezed lightly. He kissed her collarbone and the hollow of her neck. He kissed his way back up to her mouth and left her feeling warm and blissful when he finally pulled away.

"See, you have control," she said with a smile.

"I love you, Granger, don't ever think different, and please, don't ever get on the bed with Blaise Zabini again. He would have had you completely undressed and at his mercy in ten more minutes, that I guarantee," Draco said with a frown.

"You need to go apologize to him," she told him.

"I know," he responded. "Before I do that, I was wondering, since it's so warm in here, and there's actually a nice breeze outside, how would you like it if I set up a bed out in the back garden for you? Under that big birch tree? Wouldn't that be nice?"

"Why haven't we thought of that before?" Hermione asked excited.

He gathered up all her books and her writing utensils, as well as her notebook, which was getting very full, and told her he would return for her shortly.

**Outside, in the afternoon sun:**

Draco had the house elves move one of the beds from one of the other bedrooms outside to the garden. He transfigured the branches from the birch tree to form a canopy, to block her from the sun. She sat on the bed, and the warm summer breeze blew around her face, sneaking kisses to her cheeks. She felt happy. She was in a different environment, and her husband and she had a nice little snog session earlier. Things were looking up. She hadn't been inspired to write in her book for a while, but suddenly, the words were gushing from her like a spring in a dam.

Draco came outside and spread out his body beside hers. He had a piece of parchment in his hand. "I just came back from apologizing to Blaise, although I had to make him co-godfather with Potter for him to accept. He also told me that he wanted you to fulfill some stupid promise he asked of you earlier," Draco said. Hermione just grinned. Then, Draco declared, "Granger, just so I will no longer call the baby by the "D" word, I wrote up some real names that I like. I think it's time we narrow it down, don't you?" He held up the piece of parchment.

She grinned and pulled out a piece of folded parchment that she had tucked inside the current book she was reading. She said, "Here's my list, now give me yours."

"I should have known," he exclaimed, as he passed her his list.

On the top of her list under girl names, she had Erin Nicole, Holly Marie, Bethany Lynn, and Colleen Alexis. Under boy names, she had Nicholas Michael, Ian Michael, and Michael Paul. He laughed and said, "You must really like the name Michael."

She looked at his list, for girl names he had, "Victoria, Alexandria, Elizabeth, Olivia and Kathryn. For boy names, he only had two, Richard and William. Hermione said, "You must really want a girl. Do you realize we don't agree on a single name?"

"Alexis and Alexandria are close, and maybe we could pick one of my boy names and use Michael for the middle name," Draco said.

"I have a confession," Hermione said, smiling widely.

"No, don't tell me, you know the sex!" Draco stood up, apparently appalled.

"I'm sorry!" she cried.

"How long have you known?" he asked, aghast.

"Just since my appointment last week and I am sorry, I just really wanted to know," Hermione said, bashfully. She added, "I won't tell you if you don't want to know."

Draco thought about it for a millisecond and then said, "Tell me."

"Are you sure?" Hermione queried.

"TELL ME!" he practically shouted.

"Draco, we are having a little girl," Hermione said, and then she put her hands over her mouth and shrieked. She knew her husband secretly wanted a girl, and truthfully, she couldn't be happier.

Draco ran around the birch tree twice, whooping and yelping along the way. He jumped on the bed and put his head next to Hermione's stomach and said, "Hello baby girl, I'm your daddy."

"Perhaps daddy would like to help mummy pick out a name," Hermione said with a smile.

"Truthfully, I don't care. You pick the name," Draco conceded, but then he said, "Wait, I'm lying, I do care, and I want to pick the name."

"What is her name, daddy dear?" Hermione joked.

"Olivia Alexis Malfoy," Draco said without a second thought.

"I like that. I don't, however, like nicknames that much, so can we call her 'Olivia' and not some variation of the name?" Hermione asked.

"I don't like nicknames either, so I would expect nothing else," he boasted. "Wow, we are having a little girl. I like girls." Draco lay back on the bed and flashed a smile that would light up the whole world. "I like one girl in particular," he said smiling, and he took Hermione's hand and kissed it softly.

Hermione said, "Let's set down some ground rules, right now, about parenting things and such. I'll write them down, hand me my quill."

Draco looked at his wife as if she was crazy, but he knew she was dead serious, so he handed her the quill and she opened up her notebook. "Do you want to make a pro/con list as well?" Draco asked.

"Don't be daft," Hermione said. "Now, first thing, and I hope you agree with me, is that we will never use corporal punishment against our child. I was never spanked once as a child, and you tell me you were spanked often, and look at us. I think that proves my point."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Yes, you are so much nicer, smarter, and better than me because you weren't spanked and I was, what's next, oh captain, my captain?"

"I love that poem, Walt Whitman is very profound, I have a copy of "Leaves of Grass" if you ever want to borrow it," Hermione said, becoming dreadfully off track. Draco faked a yawn, so she said, "But I digress, second," she continued to write, "I think we need to always support each other, whatever one says goes. No wavering back and forth. If one disciplines the child, the other supports that, okay?"

"No," Draco said, surprising his wife, "and let me tell you why; I expect you to be the disciplinarian and I will be the old softy. I will tell them yes when you tell them no. I will say, 'of course you can have that second piece of candy' and you will say, 'no candy before supper'. That's my take on that rule," and he took her quill right out of her hand and scratched that one out.

"You arse-hole," Hermione said, re-writing that line.

"Granger," Draco said, "be rational. We argue so much now, and disagree about everything. Do you really expect that to change when the baby comes?"

She took her quill and scratched that line out as well, seeing his point.

"I have one," Draco said, excited, "I say we spoil our children rotten, buy them everything they want, give them no rules or structure, and just love them for all they are worth." He took her parchment, right from her hand, folded it into a paper airplane, much to her chagrin, and tossed it in the air, where it soared to great heights and landed in the tree above them.

"Go get that," she pleaded.

"Make me," he said with an impish grin.

"Do you really want me to, because I do have my wand," she warned.

"Then you get it," he argued, lying back down once again.

"But it would be so much more fun to hex you," Hermione laughed.

Draco grabbed her wand, threw it as far away from them as he could and then pulled her down next to him on the bed and said, "Have you ever snogged on a bed under a birch tree in the middle of the afternoon on a sunny June day?"

**Lazy day, continued to evening:**

Draco had the house elves bring them dinner in bed, under the evening sky, which was a deep, dark pink.

"Say, Malfoy, have you ever heard the saying, 'pink sky at night, sailors delight, pink sky in morning, sailor's warning'?" Hermione asked, taking a bite of her chicken.

"Merlin, is that some sick Muggle nursery rhythm?" Draco asked wearily.

"No, you prat," Hermione answered. "I was just looking at the pink sky and it made me remember that my father used to say that to me. It means if there is a pink sky at night, sailors would have easy seas the next morning, but it they awoke to a pink sky in the morning, the seas would be rough."

"Oh," he said, uninspired. Her feelings were hurt and she stopped talking. He noticed and said, "Sorry, that was interesting and all, but it still doesn't make much sense to me, that's all." He held her hand as he drank some grape juice from her glass.

"My mother used to sing me a song when I was little, but since you didn't find my father's words inspiring, I don't suppose you would like to hear this either," she said indolently.

"I would love to hear what your mother sang to you," Draco said sincerely.

"Tell me why the stars do shine, tell me why the ivy twines, and tell me why the sky's so blue and I will tell you just why I love you. Because God made the stars to shine, because God made the ivy twine, because God made the sky so blue, because God made you, that's why I love you." Hermione finished and looked at Draco.

He smiled at her and said, "You are such a sentimental sap!" Then he ran off the bed, knowing she couldn't chase him, since she couldn't get up, nor could she hex him, since her wand was still buried in the grass somewhere in the yard. So she did the only thing she could do, she glared at him.

Then she said, "I hate you sometimes." She turned away in anger.

He should remember that she had no sense of humour. He came up to her and said, "I was just joking. That's part of our incredible repartee that we do together. I liked both of the things you said. I like everything you say. You really are so sweet and adorable. It's just fun to make you annoyed sometimes. Just call me another name or something, and I know you'll feel better." He crawled behind her on the bed and held her tight.

"Do you think after I go upstairs and get showered and ready for bed, that maybe we could sleep out here tonight, under the stars?" Hermione asked, looking up at her husband. He would sleep under the stars with her any day. She was a sentimental person, and that was one of her many charms.

"Sure thing, Granger," he said, rolling off the bed and picking her up as if she weighed nothing, (ignoring the fact she had gained quite a bit of weight), and he said, "I need to add something to the pro/con list while we're upstairs anyway. Then we'll come back down and sleep under the stars and dream about our pretty little baby with one eye."

They were walking up the stairs, her in his arms, and she said, "I hope I don't ever have that dream again. Seriously, it was creepy. The baby in my dream only had one eye, right in the middle of the forehead, and it kept blinking at me."

He laughed as he carried her upstairs and said, "Let's put that on the con side, 'the baby might have one eye and that would scare its mummy'." Hermione flicked Draco on the forehead, where the baby's one eye would be, and then kissed his cheek.

* * *

Reasons Draco and Hermione should have children/shouldn't have children:

PRO:

The children will probably be good looking (Draco)

The children are bound to be smart (Hermione)

The children will be loved (Draco and Hermione)

The children will have many opportunities (Draco's money)

The children will have magical ability (That's a given)

Hermione's boobs have gotten larger (Thank you! Draco)

No need for contraception (Draco)

Great sex (Hermione)

They will have a love for reading (Hermione)

Hermione is more creative and is now a writer (Draco)

Blaise is godfather (Blaise)

Amendment # 1 - Harry is now godfather (Hermione)

Amendment # 2 – Blaise & Harry are co-godfathers (Draco)

Hermione's hair is better than ever. (Hermione)

Draco has learn humility (Draco)

Draco will be a good father (Draco)

Food taste better (Hermione)

Hermione is more organized (Hermione)

Draco is learning everything there is to know about pregnancy (Draco)

Bed rest is fun, when done properly (Draco)

Hermione has become a sentiment fool and it is very sweet (Draco)

We are having a beautiful baby girl (Draco)

CON:

The children might have bushy/curly hair (Hermione)

The children will be spoiled (Draco's money)

The children might not be smart (Sorry Draco)

The children will be half bloods & might be subjected to bigots (Both of us)

Urinating more than usual (Hermione)

Constipation, how fun. (Hermione)

Dry/Itchy skin (Hermione)

Draco's forgetfulness (Hermione)

Blaise thinks he's Hermione's new best friend (Hermione)

No more beauty sleep (Draco)

Hermione's feet are bigger (Hermione)

Stretch marks (Hermione) changed to stretch **mark, **without an 'S' (by Draco)

Bed rest is boring (Hermione)

No sex during bed rest (Draco and Hermione)

Draco has become a know it all (Hermione)

Baby might have one eye (Draco)

Hermione makes too many lists (Draco)

_End of Day Five_


	6. Day 6 7th Month Tuesday A Third W

**all characters belong to JKR**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Day 6, 7th Month, Tuesday **

* * *

**Day 6, 18th July, Tuesday, 7 Months Pregnant:**

**Hermione's morning reflections on the last few days:**

The sun was streaking through the bay window in the living room. It was so bright that Hermione could see the dust particles dancing in the air. Every window in the downstairs was open and the curtains were dancing in the breeze. After a sweltering hot June, July turned into a pleasant surprise. Hermione was thankful for this fact, since she was now roughly the size of a mountain troll, at least in her opinion. She was sitting on the couch, preparing a 'scrapbook' picture album for the baby. This was a new hobby for her, but one she found she enjoyed.

She was entering her seventh month of pregnancy. She had been off bed rest for two weeks now, but Malfoy still insisted that she take it easy. She wasn't going to complain. She hadn't been feeling very well. She had her appointment last Friday, and she told her Medi-witch that she had been having episodes of difficulty breathing. She didn't want to alarm her husband, but she wanted the Medi-witch to know. The heartburn had been horrendous as well. She allowed Draco to add that to the con side of their pro/con list. Her blood pressure was dangerously high at her last appointment, so much in fact that they wanted to confine her to bed rest again. She begged and pleaded and they relented, making her promise to come in for another appointment that Monday. The healer told her that the increased size of her uterus was pushing upon her lungs, not allowing her diaphragm to depress all the way, so her lungs would not fully fill. That was why she was having problems breathing, but just to be on the safe side, since her blood pressure was elevated, they performed several test on her heart, to be certain that she wasn't going into heart failure. She would get the results of the test during her next visit.

So, yesterday she had another appointment. She told Draco she was having lunch with Harry, so he wouldn't worry, (and he wouldn't want to come.) Her legs were swollen, her blood pressure still elevated, and she was still having difficulty breathing. The results of the test from her last visit showed nothing conclusive, but she was told if her symptoms continued, she would certainly go back to bed rest, and they might have to schedule to take the baby early. They scheduled another appointment that coming Thursday. She was almost afraid of what they would find. She really didn't want to go back on bed rest, and she wanted to have her baby naturally, and in her ninth month, as normal people did.

Sleeping was another problem. She couldn't sleep on her back, because not only was it uncomfortable, but also because she was having problems breathing in bed as well. She rested the best on her side, with a pillow between her knees. The left side was the best, which meant she had to face her husband, which she rather liked. She enjoyed watching him sleep. He hardly ever moved in his sleep. He would get up in the morning often in the exact same position he was in at night. Sometimes she would reach out and stroke his hair, or touch his chest. Last night, even under a cooling charm, she was hot, and uncomfortable, and just could not sleep. She reached over for Draco, and touched his cheek. He opened his eyes and asked her if she was okay. She didn't know what to say, because honestly, she didn't feel okay.

She told him she just couldn't sleep. He caressed her cheek and her arm. He asked her if she wanted some warm milk. She stuck out her tongue and blanched, so he took that as a no. He asked her if she wanted a bath. She had been taking showers lately, just easier, and the healer told her it was better at this stage, but a bath sounded nice.

He got out of bed, and drew her bath. As soon as the tub was full, with tepid water, he came and got her from bed. He led her to the bathroom, and pulled her gown over her head. She was embarrassed for him to see her as big as she was. They had made love Saturday night, and for the first time since 'their first time', she was embarrassed and bashful. He told her she was still beautiful. They had a difficult time finding a comfortable position; the most comfortable position ending up with her on top, which made her even more self-conscious. She had slight bleeding afterwards, which scared them both, even though Draco told her he had read that it was normal to have some bleeding after sex when you were pregnant. The truth was they had gone so long without sex, in fact the whole time she was on bed rest, that she almost didn't miss it. They were still intimate in other ways. He was very aware now to kiss her and hold her hand, and the like. He had been a model husband. It almost freaked Hermione out. She wanted to ask, 'what have you done with my real husband?'

After he drew her bath, she sat in the tub, and he sat beside her on the floor. He even got up on his knees at one point and washed her back with a large sponge. That was heavenly. Finally, she was relaxed and he helped her out of the tub, forgoing the nightgown, and she went back to bed, covered only in a lightweight sheet, lying on her left side, staring at her husband.

**Draco's reflections on the last few days:**

He noticed that Hermione kept taking deep breaths. She had been doing that a lot lately. Every time he asked her if she was having trouble breathing, she would say no. She had an appointment last week, and she didn't want him to go in the room with her, so he didn't. She told him everything was all right, but he knew she was lying, and he didn't know why. He felt bad, because he actually followed her on Monday, when she said she was meeting Harry for lunch, but his hunch was right, she was being deceitful. She went to St. Mungos instead. Was something wrong and was a she hiding something from him? Why must she always be so ambiguous and vague? She was almost being devious. That was a trait usually associated with him, not her.

She couldn't even walk up the stairs without stopping to rest. She stopped apparating, because apparently when witches were this far along, apparition was not safe. Therefore, she had to walk everywhere, and he noticed she did so with difficulty. The thing was she wasn't even that large. She kept complaining about her size. She was even embarrassed for him to see her naked last weekend when they had sex. The other day he was in the shower, and she asked him to hurry along so she could get her shower as well. He told her to join him, and she declined, saying she would just go to one of the other bathrooms. He stepped out of the shower, soaking wet, and took her by the hand and practically dragged her to the shower. She actually told him that she didn't think they would both fit. He laughed at that. He also laughed at her, because after he convinced her to stay in the shower, she told him to point 'little draco' in the other direction, because it was his fault that she was in her present predicament in the first place.

When their shower was done, he walked out without a towel, because she took his towel as well as hers. He tried to tell her that she didn't need to cover up, that he still thought she had a lovely body, but she told him he was crazy, and maybe if she had his body, she wouldn't mind walking around naked. He told her he was glad she didn't have his body, because he didn't particularly find the male body attractive, and he liked being attracted to the woman to whom he was married. She just glared at him, again finding fault with his sense of humour, and she walked out of the bathroom. Then she yelled out one word. PRAT.

Why was she acting so weird about her body? Everyone he knew kept telling him that she didn't even seem seven months along. She hadn't even gained as much weight as what was expected by the seventh month. (He was still reading every book he could on the subject.)

Sleeping was the worse. She rarely slept at all. She said the baby moved the most at night, but he suspected it was more than that. She was taking very deep and laboured breaths at night, and he knew her back hurt a lot. She also would frequently hold her chest. She said it was heartburn, which he put on the con side of their pro/con list, but he was afraid it was more than heartburn.

He would pretend to sleep sometimes, because he didn't want her to know that her insomnia was worrying him. She would reach out her hand and touch his face and his heart would melt. He loved them both, Hermione and Olivia, so much, that sometimes he couldn't believe his life was real. He was afraid he would wake up and it would all be a dream.

That morning, he was sitting in a wing back chair reading the morning paper. Every once in a while, he would look at her to steal a glance. The weather was better, which pleased them both. The whole month of June she kept complaining because they didn't have something called "central air". He asked her once what that even meant and she said it didn't matter, seeing that they lived in the 18th century, along with the rest of the Wizarding world. He asked Potter, who grew up with Muggles, what it was and he tried to explain. Draco even offered to try to get her some "air conditioning" (that's what Potter called it) but she laughed at him. Laughed! At him! He was only trying to help.

He did let her finally get a television and something called a DVD player, when she was on her bed rest. He hated to admit, but he was getting addicted to the damn thing. Why had no one ever told him about movies before? They were a damn site better and more interesting than reading, in his opinion.

There was a very nice breeze coming in the windows that morning, and Hermione also had cast a cooling charm on the room, so he was quiet comfortable. She was sitting on the couch preparing a picture album for the baby. It wasn't taxing work, but yet, he noticed that she continued sighing deeply, taking deep breaths, and every once in a while, holding her chest. He was very concerned indeed.

Ginny Potter was throwing them a baby shower tonight. It was originally going to be held at the Potter's new house. They just bought a big new house, and wanted everyone to see it, but when it seemed that Hermione might still be on bed rest, they decided to have it here at Edgewood. Hermione was glad it was here. She didn't want to worry about getting dressed and ready and going somewhere. She didn't really feel up to even having a shower tonight, but Ginny had been working so long and hard. She promised Hermione there would be no stupid shower games, and per Draco's request, men and women could both attend.

Hermione hadn't really bought the baby very much, just an occasional little dress or book here or there, so she was excited to see what types of presents they would get. Draco had already been shopping somewhat frequently for the baby. He bought ridiculous things like a solid gold charm bracelet and a frilly lace bonnet. Hermione laughed openly at a few of the things he bought, but even with her relentless teasing, his spirits were not dampened. He liked buying things for the baby, the more useless, the better. Hell, what was the point of being filthy rich if you couldn't spoil your unborn child? Hermione said it was a crime to spoil a child still in the womb, and how many teddy bears did one child need? In Draco's belief, she needed more than any other children had. He didn't tell Hermione, but he bought the baby a little solid gold locket with her name on it, and a place for her picture on one side, and Hermione's and Draco's on the other. She wouldn't be able to wear it for a long while, but she would have it anyway.

When he bought the necklace, which he had specially made for the baby, he almost had the name "Livy" inscribed, instead of Olivia. Hermione and Draco, who both abhorred the use of nicknames, had both been calling the baby by the abridge version of her name. Draco did it first, and then he caught Hermione following his lead. It was cute. Livy Malfoy.

**Back to the present, reflections over:**

"Draco, come here a minute," Hermione requested from her perch on the couch. He put his paper down, he was reflecting more than reading anyhow, and he came to sit next to his wife.

"I want to make a page in the scrapbook for Olivia's first picture with her daddy, and I want you to help me make it. I think it will mean more to her someday," she said, looking up at him. He didn't even know where to start, or how to do what she was requesting. In front on her, on the coffee table, were many different colours of papers, some plain, some with designs. There were scraps of ribbons and different colour pens. He looked at a few of the intricate pages she had made and they were so elaborate with detailed adornments and fancy calligraphy style writing that they resembled works of art.

"Serious, Granger, I not the 'artsy' type. Why don't you just do one for me? I'll pick out the background page," and with that said he reached down on the table and picked up a white piece of paper, and then for good measure he picked out a silver piece of ribbon. Rather proud of himself, he looked up at her with a smile, to find her looking back with a frown.

"Fine, go away, you bother me," she said, as she took the white piece of paper, balled it up with her fist, and threw it over her shoulder.

"That's uncalled for, Granger," he scolded, and then more to himself than to her, he said, "she asked me to help and this is the thanks I get." He got up from the couch and started back over to the chair, only to hear her expel two short breaths in a row. He turned his head in her direction and looked back at her. The two short breaths turned into three, then four, and then more.

She said, "Draco…I'm having…trouble…breathing." She barely managed to get the words out. He turned back around in a flash and bent down to look at her face.

"When did this start?" he asked her.

"I…can't…talk…," she looked up at him with fear in her eyes. He grabbed her arm and apparated them to St. Mungos.

**Later that morning, at St. Mungos**

So there he was, in the waiting room, while she was inside being examined. He came in the room, and saw that she had a strange tube in her nose, in which the medi-witch told him was providing her with extra oxygen. The healer also told Draco that Hermione's blood pressure had been very high the last two times she had visited, and they were afraid that the pregnancy was causing undo stress on her heart. Apparently, there was a worry about fluid around her heart, and something called Pre-eclampsia, which was the leading cause of premature birth, as well as the second leading cause of maternal death. Draco swallowed hard as the healer told him all of this, not once taking his eyes off his pregnant wife. She was not looking at him however. She had her face turned toward the wall.

As soon as the healer left the room, Draco said, "Why the hell have you been hiding this from me?"

"I'm not hiding anything!" she exclaimed, "When I last saw the healers, and they performed testing on my heart, they said the test were inconclusive."

"But," Draco said, sitting on her bed, "the fact is that you had testing done, and appointments made, without telling me. Don't you see the wrong in that? Don't try to spare me, Granger! I'm a grown man, and anything that has to do with you or this child is as much my concern as yours, do you understand?" He was angry with her, he didn't want to be, but he was.

She started crying. Damn. He made his pregnant wife, who was having trouble breathing, and potentially life-threatening problems, cry. He was a cad. Was that why she needed that 'central air' thing? Was it to make her breathing better? Why couldn't she just tell him that? Just then, Harry Potter and Blaise Zabini both came running in the door, with Blaise just one-step quicker.

"Out of the way, Wonder boy, I'm the main godfather," Blaise said to Harry.

"Sod off, Zabini; I'm not getting into a 'whose the best godfather' contest with you. I just want to see Hermione," Harry spat back.

Suddenly, both men stopped in their tracks when they saw Hermione crying, and Draco standing by the window, with his back toward the door.

Harry quickly ran to the bed, grabbed her hand and said, "Is it the baby, Hermione?"

"No, the baby's fine. I was just having some breathing problems, and my blood pressure is elevated. I feel better already," she told her friend, leaning into him for a hug.

"Why are you crying?" Blaise asked, as Harry nodded. He wanted to know as well.

"Draco's being a jerk," Hermione said, trying to say it lightly, with a smile.

"Merlin, Granger," Blaise said, "If you cried every time Malfoy was a jerk, you wouldn't have any eyeballs left. What's the real reason?"

Draco turned around and said, "It all boils down to lies and deception, as well as trust. Three things my wife and I can't seem to agree upon," and then he stormed from the room and left.

"Do you have to stay here tonight?" Harry asked, "Because if you do, I need to contact Ginny to tell her to cancel the shower. Perhaps we should cancel anyway, even if you get to go home."

"No, don't cancel. I don't have to stay," she said, and then she just wondered something, "How did you two know we were here?"

"I went by your house to talk with the house elves, something about the food for tonight, and Zabini was already there and he told me," Harry said to her, clutching her hand.

"And Draco told me. He came back to your house for something, right after you were taken into the examine room, and I had just arrived. I was hoping to spend the morning tormenting you. I haven't done that for a while. Now, I suppose those plans are kaput," Blaise announced, sitting on the chair near the bed and putting his feet up on the bed for good measure. Harry hit his feet, to knock them off the bed.

The healer came and told her she was free to go, but to return if her symptoms came back. They told her to stay off her feet as much as possible, and to limit her fluid intake. She nodded, assenting. "Who's going to take me home, since my husband is missing in action?" she asked.

"I'll do it, Harry should go home to the misses," Blaise said, offering Hermione his hand.

Hermione was surprised to find herself in her backyard. She was just about to ask Blaise why he apparated them to her back yard, when he answered her question before it could be asked, "I thought we could have lunch out here. There's plenty of air for you to breathe out here." She smiled. She sat at the white wrought iron table as he went in to tell the house elves to prepare them some lunch.

There was a nice breeze blowing all around her, rafting around her body, mind and soul. Reassuring her that there would be plenty of air for her to breath, just as surely as the sun was reassuring her that each day was a new day, and the sky was reassuring her that she was lucky to be alive. She sat under the little portico and was overwhelmed with exhaustion. She put her arms on the table, and let her head fall down on them, as if they were a cushion. Even with the beautiful day around her reminding her that she was lucky to be alive, she felt empty inside; devoid of feeling and thought. Blank, unhappy, and alone. She hadn't felt this lonely in a long time.

She wanted to have this baby now, and get on with her life, their lives. She still wasn't sure why Draco had become so upset. She wasn't really lying to him. She just didn't want to give him any unneeded reason for concern. Therefore, what if she wasn't completely forthcoming. He made it a daily practice to withhold information from her, so why should he be so upset? She always carried on and forgave him. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Next thing she knew, she was being woken up by someone brushing her hair back from her face, and kissing her neck. She figured it was Blaise, as he had gone in to get their lunch ages ago. She said, "You shouldn't kiss me, Blaise, because Draco wouldn't like it."

"Tell me, Hermione," the person asked, "why would my wife automatically assume it was Blaise kissing her neck?" He sat down in a chair beside her and gave her a reaffirming smile. She just closed her eyes again. He brushed his fingertips against her cheeks, with the softest of touches. Just then, Blaise came out with their food. Draco motioned for him to put the food down and leave. Draco took his hand and rubbed her back up and down.

"Are you still feeling poorly?" Draco asked her, leaning down to kiss her once more.

"No, just tired," she mused.

"We should cancel the shower," Draco demanded.

She looked over at him, still reclined on her arms, and said, "I don't want to. Ginny's worked so hard, and I've been looking forward to this as well. I'll be fine." She sat completely up, as if to show him that she was undeniably fine. She asked, "Where did you go when you left St. Mungos? Somewhere private, I assume, where no one could see your little temper tantrum?"

"Ouch," Draco said, "Your not too tired to be a bitch, I see."

"I'm never too tired for that, at least as far as you're concerned," she answered, scathingly.

This made him laugh, not in a condensing way, but a genuine laugh. "Why is everything a fight and struggle with you and I?" he asked, standing up and pulling her into his arms in a tight embrace.

She said, "Harry once said it was because we were two incredibly passionate people, neither ever wanting to concede to the other, and that we both always had to be right." She stretched her arms tight around him.

Draco smiled, and thought how insightful that was, but said, "Potter's a git. Now, you go upstairs and lay down. I am going shopping for a dress for you to wear tonight."

"I can get my own dress," she stated.

"I have better taste than you, I think I should go," he told her. Secretly, he didn't want her to exert herself. He wanted her to go upstairs and stay on the bed until the baby came. He wouldn't get that wish, but he could wish it nevertheless, "If you recall, I have an excellent track record picking out dresses for you."

"If you can handle the task, go for it," she said wearily.

"I'll take you upstairs," he said. He took her upstairs and then he left.

**Upstairs in her bedroom, Three hours before the shower:**

As soon as her head was introduced to the pillow, she was out like a light. She woke up disoriented. It was mid afternoon, at least according to the admission of the clock by her bed. The shower was at 7 pm. That was the most sleep she'd had in weeks, maybe months. She coveted sleep. She earned a well-deserved sleep.

She turned to face the other direction, and saw Blaise at their writing desk, intent on composing a letter.

"Run along and play, Blaise, so I can get up and changed for the shower," Hermione said. The tall, dark, handsome man turned to look at her, but then went back to his writing.

Without looking at her, he said, "Draco sent me up to watch you. Make sure you rested. Little did he know that you would sleep for hours. I was on the verge of waking you, when you woke up."

Hermione said, "If you insist on staying, will you go get my wand. I want to hex you."

He turned from his writing, smiled shyly and said, "Am I a distraction to you?"

She sighed and said, "Please go."

"You rest some more. I promise I really will be good," he assured her as he continued to write.

"What are you writing? A suicide note?" She laughed.

"Why aren't you resting?" he asked back, standing and coming to sit by her on the bed.

"Fine, don't tell me," Hermione feigned insult.

"I'm writing to Janice Cohn. I'm telling her we need to stop seeing each other," Blaise said sincerely.

Hermione was suddenly interested. She sat up in bed and said, "For goodness sakes, why? Have you finally grown a sense of right and wrong?"

"No, I've finally fallen in love," he said, actually blushing.

Hermione smiled and said, "Should I be jealous? Does that mean you no longer love me?"

"I will always love you, but I have fallen in love with another as well. I never thought it would happen, not in a million years, but I guess if it could happen to Draco, it could happen to me," he admitted.

"Who is this person? Do I know her?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, we all went to school together. She's a very special girl. Beautiful, sweet, caring, honest, the complete opposite of me," he said with a smile.

"Who?"

"Don't laugh," Blaise said.

"Why would I laugh?"

"Because we are a more unlikely pair than you and Draco, if you can imagine. It's Hannah Abbott, from Hufflepuff, do you remember her?" Blaise asked.

"Of course, she was in Dumbledore's Army with Harry, Ron and I. She was a prefect. I remember her mother was killed by Voldemort when we were in school. I really liked her. That's great, Blaise," Hermione said, meaning every word she said. Then Hermione said, "But, I still think you should tell Janice you don't want to see her in person, not in a letter. She deserves as much. In addition, I don't think it's a good idea to use Draco's stationery to break up with her. Scott might see it and think Draco is the one breaking the affair."

"Even if the letter is signed with my name?" he reasoned. He crawled on the bed beside her. "I want to do everything right with her. I've seen how much you and Draco have struggled, and I want to spare her that."

Hermione said, "Bring her to the shower tonight. That will show Janice that you're moving on. She really can't be upset, she is married after all." Then she said, "When you said you two were a more unlikely pair than Draco and I, what did you mean?"

"She was in Hufflepuff. That's worse than being in Gryffindor," Blaise admitted.

"What, are you twelve? Why does what house you were in matter now that you are an adult?" Hermione asked.

"Once a Slytherin, always a Slytherin," Blaise said matter of fact.

"Was everyone really shocked when Draco and I started seeing each other?" Hermione finally asked.

"Don't get angry, but yes, sort of. Sorry," Blaise began, "It was partly because of your blood status, and partly because of your affiliation with Potter. However, when it was apparent that he really loved you, no matter what, we all got over it quickly and learned to accept you. And some of us even learned to love you." He smiled and leaned over and kissed her cheek.

"What the hell?" Draco said from the door, "GET OUT OF MY BED!" he yelled, reminiscent of the exact same thing he yelled the last time Blaise was in his bed.

Blaise stood, took the letter he was writing and put it in his pocket and said, "Don't tell my secret just yet, Hermione. Let it be a surprise for tonight." He left the room.

"What surprise?" Draco asked.

"I don't know to what he was referring," Hermione lied.

Draco held out the dress he bought her. It was a v-neck, empire waist dress of a lightweight jersey knit, with a gathered waist in the front, with long pleats. It had bubble sleeves, knee length, and was a royal blue colour. It was really quite beautiful.

**The Baby Shower:**

He helped her dress and helped her with her hair, and then he got dressed. He escorted her to the living room, which had been transformed to an English garden. All the furniture had been removed and was replaced with a very large round table, decorated with mauve and white table linens. Flesh flowers hung like garland from one corner of the room to the other. There were floral swags hanging above all the doorways.

"It's so lovely," Hermione said to Ginny, who was entering from the dining room, with a large cake in her hands. She set the cake down at a buffet table near the French doors and came and hugged her friend.

"Harry said you were ill earlier. Are you sure you want to do this?" Ginny asked with concern.

Hermione just smiled and took her place at the table. Draco's place card indicated that his seat was next to hers. He sat as well.

Soon, all their friends started arriving. All of the Weasleys, Ron's wife Lavender, Neville, Luna, the Patil twins, Blaise and Hannah, as well as Scott and his wife, Janice. Hermione was too wrapped up in the festivities to notice the tension in the air, coming from Janice to Blaise, and for some reason from Scott to Draco.

They ate a wonderful feast, and then played two games, which Hermione had made Ginny swear they wouldn't have to play, but which were fun nonetheless. After dinner, the table was cleared and she started opening her presents.

Hermione and Draco couldn't believe their bounty. Their friends certainly outdid themselves. Some of the gifts were endearing, and some were extravagant. Mrs. Weasley knitted her baby girl a little yellow jumper with white embroidered flowers. There was a matching bonnet and booties. Fleur hand knitted a receiving blanket that shimmered like gossamer silk. Harry and Ginny gave the couple a beautiful picture album, engraved with the baby's name. Ron and Lavender gave the baby a little broom and Quidditch gear, which made everyone laugh. Lavender was embarrassed, but Ron brightly beamed in pride.

Blaise gave the baby a silver chalice, also with her name, that was embossed with a picture of him, (Hermione laughed so hard she spit out her pumpkin juice) with a stem embedded with rubies, emeralds, and sapphires.

Draco gave his wife the last present. "I didn't know we were giving each other present?" Hermione asked, taken aback, "I didn't get you anything."

He held her hand under the table and said quietly, so only she could hear, "My present is you and the baby. I never need anything else. Open the present."

She opened the present and there was a picture frame, with two halves. One side was a picture of her parents, taken with a Wizarding camera, so the likenesses moved, and taken back when Hermione was still in school. They looked so bright, happy and carefree. On the other side was a picture of his parents. She looked up at him, needing no explanation, but still he said, "For the baby. So she will know what her grandparents had been like, and so she'll know that even though they have long gone, they still love her, and they live on through her."

Hermione wanted to cry, but kept her tears in check. She leaned over and nuzzled her nose in the crook of his neck. She said in his ear, "No one could ever imagine how much I love you, Draco Malfoy. You are my present, as well." He turned to her and kissed her lips.

**Later, after most guests had left:**

Hermione walked outside for some fresh air. It was a cool night. It felt like bliss. She had felt like a walking zombie for the last week, and that empty feeling had finally been lifted, and she was at peace once more. She walked further down the moonlit path, toward the rose garden. She sat on a little stone bench. She heard approaching footsteps. She looked to see to whom they belonged, and saw Scott Cohn.

"May I join you?" he asked, sitting down before she answered. He seemed to be in a foul mood all evening.

"Is something wrong, Scott?" she was afraid to ask, because she was painfully aware that his dark mood could be the result of him finding out about his wife's affair.

"Oh, don't mind me. I'm just downhearted. I'm a little jealous to be quite frank with you. You and Draco seem so happy, and you are having a beautiful little baby. My wife and I have been trying to conceive for many years, did you know that?"

Hermione didn't know that. She sat silently by and allowed him to continue. "Granted, we haven't always had the best marriage, but we always thought kids would help cement things, you know? But, even kids can't save something that is already dead."

"What are you saying, Scott?" Hermione turned to him and asked.

"My marriage is over. It's a sham, and has been for such a long time. Our infidelities have finally put the final nail in the coffin," he said, hanging his head.

"I'm sorry," Hermione said.

"Me too," he answered, adding, "Did you know about Janice and Blaise Zabini?"

What should she say? She decided to be honest. "I saw them together at your anniversary party. But, I know he said he was breaking it off."

"Yes, he apparently told her just this evening. I don't think she really cared. She never loved him. No, she said she loved another. She told me she had only had one other lover in our ten years together. I have to admit, I was shocked. I have had many more than that. I was still jealous though, and I asked her who the other bloke was, the one she claimed she loved," Scott started, and then he stood to look down at Hermione, whose face was shining in the moonlight. "I hate to tell you this, but you deserve to know. It's Draco."

Hermione really did not understand or comprehend what he was saying. Although, her chest was constricted again, and her breathing suddenly laboured, she was sure she had not heard him. He must be confused. He must have saw Draco's stationery, the one Blaise used to write to his wife. He must just have come to the wrong conclusion.

Hermione stood and said, "You're wrong. Blaise used Draco's stationery to write to her to end it, but Draco was not having an affair with her."

"Oh, she said it ended long ago. She said the last time she slept with him was the night before your wedding. She said he came to her, drunk and out of his mind with anguish, thinking that you weren't going to go through with the wedding. She said that it had been months before that night, the last time they had relations, but that they did indeed sleep together that night. Your bastard of a husband slept with my wife the night before your wedding. And you recall the fiasco that followed and how abhorrent he acted on your wedding day. She said that gave her hope, hope that he was not in love with you. She was wrong. He loves you. He doesn't deserve you, but he loves you."

When Scott was done with his speech, she was shaking all over. Why didn't Blaise mentioned this when he told her about Draco's other women? Did he not know, or was he being elusive. Just then, Draco and Harry and Ginny all came outside. Draco called her name. She ran down the dark path. Now Scott was calling her name as well.

Draco caught up with Scott and pulled on his arm. "Where is my wife? Ginny said you followed her out here!"

"I told her, Malfoy. I told her about you and my wife. She deserves better than you. You're a bastard, and if I can cause you any unhappiness, then I'm happy to do so, I just regret that Hermione and her baby must get caught in the crossfire," Scott yelled.

By this time, the few remaining shower guests had come outside as well. Scott's wife was silently crying, for she realized what her husband had done. Blaise came up to restrain Draco, who seemed to be on the verge of cursing Scott, as he had his wand out and at the ready.

Harry grabbed Scott, who also drew his wand. Ginny said, "This is enough. Draco, Harry, go find Hermione."

It was as if time stood still. Draco had momentarily forgotten about his wife. He ran down the winding path, straight into the rose garden. Harry was directly behind. Draco stopped so suddenly that Harry fell over him, and landed at his feet. From his place on the ground, Harry saw the thing that made Draco come to a halt. It was Hermione, on the ground, dissolved in tears.

As Draco came to comfort his wife, she said, "I can't even begin to see you right now. On the night before our wedding? Really, Draco? And you have the gall to say that I'm evasive and not trustworthy! You say that I have lies and deceit? Tell me, what's worse? Trying to save your husband's feelings by not being truthful about problems with your pregnancy, or sleeping with an old lover on the eve of your wedding, and then not being man enough to admit the truth!" She continued to cry. Draco stood beside her. He couldn't deny the allegations, for unfortunately they were true. The fact that he was at the depth of despair and totally pissed, beyond belief, that night would not even be a worthy enough excuse. Not for Hermione, and not now.

"Go to her, Potter," Draco pleaded, close to the edge of insanity.

Harry went and lifted her up. He actually picked her up as if she was a rag doll. He looked at Draco, questioning. What should he do now? Draco understood and said, "Take her upstairs. I'll go stay elsewhere tonight. Tell her I'll see her in a few days. Please, have someone stay with her. Remind her how much I love her."

Draco was frantic. His stupidity was finally catching up with him, and he was afraid the end was near. He was afraid he was finally waking from his dream, only to enter a nightmare. Now he was having trouble breathing. He started crying. He didn't even know at first why his cheeks were wet and salty. Blaise came up and wrapped his arm around his friend. Harry walked past the duo, with Hermione still in his arm. Ron came up and offered assistance, and Harry passed her on to him. Ron walked inside the house, with Hermione in his arms.

All eyes were on Draco. He ran through the crowd, parting them as he went. He didn't care where he went. He just needed to get away from all the accusing stares. He ran into the house, just as Ron was walking up the stairs with his wife. Harry said, "We'll take care of her. It'll be fine. It was just a shock. Go to Blaise's house, so we'll know where you are."

Draco nodded his head numbly. He looked at Potter, who he had never had any special inclination of affection or friendship for before, but as Harry reached out his hand to offer solace to his best friend's husband, Draco gladly accepted and turned to leave. If it was the last thing he did, he would prove to his wife that sleeping with someone else on the night before their wedding was the last stupid thing he would ever do. At least, he hoped it would be, and he hoped she would let him tell her as much.

Hermione was laid on the bed by her friend. She turned to her side and started crying louder. A terrible day turned to a wonderful day, to end as the worse day of her life. She asked Ron for his wand. He was afraid to give it to her, but afraid to say no. Just as Harry Potter entered the bedroom, he saw Hermione and Draco's pro/con list being blown to bits and catch on fire, by a spell emitting from Ron's wand, but by Hermione's hand.

_End of Day 6_


	7. Day 7 8th Month Wednesday A Third

**all characters belong to JKR**

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**Chapter 7: Day 7, 8th Month, Wednesday **

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**Day 7, 19th, August, Wednesday, 8 Months Pregnant:**

**Morning, lies and forgiveness:**

Draco had not seen his wife for over a month. Not since the night of their baby shower. He had purposely stayed away from her, thinking that when she was ready to see him, she would let him know. Apparently, that day was never going to happen. She was being stubborn, or she just really never wanted to see him again, whichever was the case, he finally took it upon himself to seek her out.

He sent an owl to her last week, asking if they could meet. He poured out his heart to her in that letter. He apologized, told her that he knew he had messed up, and the reason he didn't tell her about sleeping with Janice right after it happened was because he thought at the time she would never go through with their wedding anyway, so he saw no need (Cowardly, yes, but that was the truth). Then he told her the reason he never told her after the wedding was because she already had so much to be angry for, what with him showing up drunk at the wedding, and for not telling her the whole truth about the pureblood marriage laws, so he just couldn't tell her something that terrible, that soon.

He proclaimed his love for her and their child. He asked for forgiveness. He reminded her that she married him for better or for worse, and even though what was happening right now certainly represented the worse, the upcoming birth of their child would surely represent the better.

He ended by saying he would respect her wishes, for the time being, but if she thought he would stay away forever, and never see their child, and give up on their marriage, well then she was lacking all responsible thought. She should know him better than that.

Two days later, he received an owl back from her with a note that contained one word and one world only. "Prat". It was her 'pet name' for him, so he thought that was a good sign. He talked to Potter the next day and told him to prepare Hermione, because he was coming to talk to her.

He entered the house and thought, 'it's now or never'. He walked throughout the house, looking for her. When he scoured the entire downstairs, he called one of their elves and asked where the mistress was. He was told she was upstairs in bed. Draco thought that was odd, seeing that it was 11 am. Why was she still in bed? He asked the elf why Mrs. Malfoy was still in bed, and was told that she was confined to bed rest again.

Draco felt panic. He ran up the stairs, taking two at a time. He rushed to their room, and saw Hermione on their bed, reading a book. He tried to enter the room casually, hiding his impending fear and discomfort. Hermione put her book down and told him to have a seat. He sat next to her on the bed. She asked him to please get off the bed and sit elsewhere. He grimaced, but did as she asked. He grabbed the chair from the desk, put it right next to the bed, and sat down.

"Why are you back on bed rest?" was his first question.

"Premature labour," was her curt response.

"When?" he asked.

"Since the day after you left," she said.

Why had no one told him? He would ask that later. He asked, "May I take your hand?"

"No," she said, and had the audacity to pick her book back up. He knew she would be a tough nut to crack, but this was borderline rude.

"Put your book down and talk to me, please," he pleaded.

"No," she answered again. Was that the only word she knew?

He took her book from her hand, threw it across the room, and said, "If you want to read, go get your book, Miss Bed Rest." He knew it was a dreadful thing to say and to do the moment he did it. He didn't care. She was being a bitch and didn't deserve any niceties.

When she actually put her feet on the floor, to go get her book, he let out an exasperated breath, and put his hand on her lower arm.

"Are you ever going to forgive me?" he asked.

"No," she said. There was that infernal word again. If she said no once more, he was probably going to be arrested for strangling his pregnant wife.

He stood up and started pacing the room.

"So, that's it then?" he started, "That's the end of our marriage, just like that? You won't forgive me? You don't love me anymore? Maybe you never loved me? Is that it?" He realized he was ranting, but he didn't care. None of this was going as he had planned or hoped.

"That's right, Malfoy," Hermione spat, "Put it all on me. I'm the bad one here! I'm the one at fault! Just sleep with whomever you want, because you apparently think it's within your rights, and you also presumably think I should just automatically forgive all of your transgressions!"

She was so angry, that he was afraid. He looked to make sure she didn't have her wand. She continued, "If I had slept with someone on the eve of our wedding, would you have been so forgiving? If I had done half of the things you have done, would you welcomed me back with open arms? I don't think so! Stop being a hypocrite and just leave me alone!"

"No, I won't leave you alone!" he yelled back, looming over her, larger than life. He pointed right at her, his fingers just centimeters from her face. "If you think I'll grant you a divorce, you have another thought coming. Maybe you should re-read that prenuptial agreement you signed! The only grounds for divorce are spousal abuse, severe emotional and physical distress, and adultery, after the marriage, I might add! Unless you can prove any of those, you are stuck with me. Furthermore, I will remind you that it also stated that I would reserve the right to full custody of any children born from the union, so unless you want to never see your child again, once again, I say, you're stuck with me!" He was being mean, unreasonable, and not very truthful. He knew in his heart that he would never take her child from her; however, she didn't need to know that.

She started crying and said, "You won't take my baby from me!"

"Why not, you want to take it from me!" he bellowed back.

She sat on the bed, with her face buried in her hands, crying for all she was worth, and he felt lower than the scum on the underside of a slug. He took a deep breath and said, "Granger, I would never want to take your baby from you, but what do you want from me? What can I do? I want you and the baby. I want you to let me come home, so we can be a family. I love you. I did something stupid! Okay? I will do many more stupid things before our days are through. Face it; you married a stupid, stupid man. But, bloody hell, Granger, you married a stupid man who loves you so much that he is quietly dying inside right now." Draco sat back on the bed beside her and hung his head, in shame, remorse, and in what he thought was defeat.

"You're not stupid," she said softly.

"I'm not?" he asked, surprised.

"No, you just do stupid things sometimes, there's a difference," she lectured, wiping her eyes with her hands. She said, "What other secrets are you keeping from me?"

He stood up and took a piece of parchment from his jeans. "Well," he started, "I made a list, here," and he handed her his list. She laughed and he finished with, "What can I say, you and your bloody lists are rubbing off on me."

She handed the list back to him and asked him to read his list, aloud, so he began, "Things I have been keeping from Granger. Number one, I've never really read "Moby Dick", when she asked me if I did, I said yes, and then I just pretended to agree with her when she told me her favourite parts of the story, saying they were mine as well." He cleared his throat and continued, "Two, that day she asked me if I stole her last piece of candy, and I acted offended, and she apologized, well, I had stolen it, and I would probably do that one again. Third, when she wore that hideous red dress and I told her she looked good in it, that was a lie," he put the paper down for a moment and added, "Seriously, Granger, it was ugly."

"Fourth, back when we were dating and we went to the forbidden forest to collect that plant for the potion we were working on, I really did steal your knickers, and I have them this day, hidden in a place you will never find them." She laughed and he looked at her and said, "I know, I'm a sick man." He sat back down.

"Fifth, I really hate your cooking, even though I always say I love it. You should never operate a blender again."

She put her hand over his mouth and said, "How many more admissions are there on this list?"

"Forty-three," he said.

"Just give it to me, and I'll read it later. It dawned on me, that most of those omissions of the truths were done out of love. But, Draco, the one we're fighting about at this point in time, was omitted for one reason and one reason only, for self-preservation."

"True, but also out of love," he pointed out.

"I have to be able to trust you. I told you that from the beginning. Why is that so hard for you to comprehend?" she asked, looking tired and forlorn.

"I don't know, I really don't," Draco told her, grasping her hand between his. "Let's call this a very important learning experience and move on, shall we?"

"Draco, you act like you forgot to ask me to tea or something. You're acting very flippant about the whole affair," she warned.

"It wasn't an affair," he tried to joke.

"I'm in no mood for your jokes," she said. Hermione pulled her hands from his and said, "Only you have ever hurt me this much. I don't want to be hurt again. I won't give you another chance after this one. You had better start making better decisions, and thinking before you act, because there will be dire consequences. You need to make amends for your transgressions."

"So, you forgive me," he asked, almost afraid of another 'no'.

"I want to," she said sincerely.

"Then do it," he egged her on.

"Okay," she simply said.

He smiled and bent over and kissed her cheek. He said, "Now, tell me what's going on with the baby?"

"I started bleeding, and cramping again, and they put me back on bed rest, nothing more to tell," she lied. There was more to tell, but she would tell him later.

"Is it my fault? Was it due to stress?" he asked.

She wanted to spare him, but still, not wanting to lie, she said, "Who knows?"

He stood up and just noticed their pro/con list was gone. "What happened to our pro/con list?" he said, pointing toward the door.

"It was blown to bits with Ron's wand," she answered, evasively.

"Why that little weasel. He had no right!" Draco said adamantly.

Hermione said, "It doesn't matter. I'm afraid that in the last month, there would have been more con's anyway, and I know you said if that happened, we just wouldn't let the baby come out, but I think it's going to come out anyway, probably pretty soon."

"How's soon, is pretty soon?" Draco asked wearily.

"They want to schedule to take the baby next week, even though it's a tad on the small side. They don't think I can wait much longer," she admitted.

Subsequently, he was glad he came home. Who knew if she would have told him? He walked over to the bed and reclined beside her body, putting his leg over hers; he reached up and cupped her cheek, and leaned in to kiss her lips. "We'll get through this together, Granger."

**A game and a movie:**

"Let's watch a movie," she said. He went over to the DVD player and put in a movie. It was "The Last of the Mohicans". He lied once and told her he had read that book as well. Maybe the movie would give him some insight to his lies.

As they were watching their movie, Hermione said, "Let's play a game."

"Oh yes, Granger, because we are ten years old," he said. He felt that was now their usual response to that question. However, he sat up and turned off the television. He said, "Tell me about this game," then he quickly added, "I'm not up to the game, 'two lies and a truth', since I'm not allowed to lie to you anymore, and I don't want to play that other game, because you will just make me admit to wanting to snog Potter again."

She laughed and said, "No this one's really easy. We look around the room, say, 'I spy with my little eye something that starts with the letter K', or some other letter and the other person gets five chances to guess to what we are looking. My parent's used to play it with me when I was young."

"Sounds stupid," he concluded. Seriously, he was beginning to feel sorry for Muggle children and their stupid little games.

"Fine, go away, you're bothering me again," she said, waving her hand toward him.

"No, let's play your paltry little game, you go first," he said, sitting upright on the bed.

She looked around the room and said, "I spy with my little eye something that starts with 'C'."

He looked around and guessed, "Cupboard?" she shook her head no. "Closet?" another no, "calendar," no, "cupcake?"

"Where do you see a cupcake, for goodness sakes?" she asked.

"Just say no, if I answer incorrectly," he goaded, "is it my cat?" he asked as his little grey striped cat jumped up on the bed.

"Yes, you get a point, oh stupid one," she waned.

Draco glared and said, "Now I will show you no mercy. It starts with the letter 'D'."

"You have to say the 'I spy' part," she said with false scorn.

"No I don't, that's stupid and I refuse. Start guessing," he commanded.

"Door?" she asked.

"No," he said, faking a yawn.

"Drapes," she inquired, looking around.

"You're a loser, no way," he commented.

"Donut?" she quizzed.

"Where the hell is a donut?" he asked.

"Right next to your cupcake," she laughed, and then she said, "Drink?" pointing to her glass of water. He shook his head 'no'. She finished with, "Draco?"

Even though that wasn't his item, his item was diamond ring, he decide one more lie, to make her happy, and because he loved her, and because it was sort of sweet that she picked him, would be acceptable, so he said, "You get a point!"

She acted exuberantly happy, and said, "Yes!" and then looking around she said, "I spy with my little eye something that starts with 'L'."

"Lamp?" he asked.

"No way," she commented.

"Lingerie?"

"Where is there lingerie in your range of vision?" she scolded again.

"I thought it just had to be in the room?" He really did misunderstand.

"Then I wouldn't have to say, 'I spy', idiot." She hit his arm.

'Oh, so that's what that meant', he thought. He looked around again and said, "Lock?"

"No, Mr. Loser," she said with a laugh.

"I give up," he said after only a few seconds, "just tell me."

"Fine," she said with a huff, "the answer is light."

"But I guessed that," he explained.

"No, you didn't," she answered.

"Yes, that was the first thing I said," he proclaimed.

"I didn't hear that. I heard you say 'lamp'. Two vastly different things, Malfoy," she said, unable to contain her smile.

"Hey you cheat, I get that point, and you call me an idiot." He took her hand and held it tightly.

"I'm tired now, maybe you should go do something productive, instead of lying around watching movies and playing silly games," Hermione said, with an actual yawn.

He took that as his cue to leave. He said, "I need to go back to Blaise's house and get my things. Will you be all right for a while?" She nodded and he kissed the top of her head and left.

As soon as he left, she hopped out of bed. She really was restricted once more to bed rest, but she had one quick thing she needed to do, which would not take her long, would not be taxing, and she would be back before Draco even knew she was gone.

She had ordered a full set of Beatrix Potter books, back when they decorated the nursery, and the Muggle bookstore where she had ordered them had sent her a letter last week saying they had arrived. She had asked Harry, Ron and Ginny, all on separate occasions, to go pick them up, and they had all promised to, only to be too busy. She knew she was being a pain, since one of them had to look in on her several times a day, but these books were important to her. She hadn't bought many things for the baby, so she really wanted these books.

She could ask Draco to get them, but seriously, it would not be a strain on her at all. She could floo right to Diagon Alley, then take a Muggle cab to the bookstore, get her books, and be right back. What could happen at a bookstore?

She went to the fireplace, and was on her way.

**Draco at Blaise's house:**

Draco went to Blaise's house, which had been his home away from home for the last month. He couldn't find Blaise, so he started packing his things, deciding that he would just write him a note to tell him that he was finally going home to be with his wife.

He was done packing, had just finished the note, when Blaise came stumbling in the door. His friend was apparently inebriated, and it was only early afternoon. "What the bloody hell is going on, Blaise?" Draco asked as his friend plopped down on the sofa.

"She broke up with me, Hannah, she hates me," Blaise said, apparently very upset.

"Why?" Draco sat down next to him. His friend had been there for him, so he felt obligated to return the favour.

"She said that I was too complicated, that she couldn't trust me. I have been honest with her from day one. I've seen what lies can do to a relationship, with you and your wife, so I have tried not to make the same mistakes, but she said that I have too many 'bones' in my closet, whatever the hell that means." Blaise answered.

"I think you mean too many skeletons in your closet. It's a Muggle expression." Draco was shocked that he even knew that. He was beginning to understand Muggle expressions. He would remember to be thoroughly disgusted later. For now, he asked, "Is there more to all of this than that?"

"Yes, she thinks I'm still having a fling with Janice Cohn," Blaise admitted.

"Are you?" Draco inquired.

"No, I swear I'm not. I don't know why she thinks that!" Blaise said yelling.

"Listen, I'll go talk to her, would that help?' Draco offered.

"Merlin, yes, please," Blaise told his friend.

"I packed my things, because my wife finally forgave me. I'll leave everything here, go talk to Hannah, and then I'll be right back, is that satisfactory?" Draco asked.

Blaise said yes, so Draco promptly left. If he could help someone else's relationship, he felt it was the least he could do.

**Hermione at the bookstore:**

Hermione went up to the check out and told the clerk that she had ordered some books and was notified that they were ready to be picked up. She gave the clerk her name, and the clerk told her he would be right back.

Hermione started walking up and down the aisles. She loved the look and feel of new books. She had often entertained the thought of opening her own bookstore. Maybe she could talk to Draco about it, and when the baby was older, she could pursue her dream.

Her fingers deftly stroked over the spines of the books as they sat in their respected homes on the shelves. So many colours, so many different titles and subjects. She picked up a book on English Literature, and started thumbing through the book, when suddenly; she got a terrible pain on her left flank. Almost like the pain a person would get when they had a stitch in their side, when they ran fast, or exerted themselves. She put the book down and winced with pain. She headed over to the bathroom, deciding that she needed to apparate home, right away, even if apparating was considered ill advised at this stage of her pregnancy.

She wobbled over to the bathroom; she could pick up her books at a later date, and opened one of the stalls. She was opening one of the doors, when suddenly a gush of water came out of her, scaring her half to death. It wasn't a little leak, it was an actual gush. The water was clear and odorless, and she knew right away what it was. She looked around helplessly, when a terrible pain hit her again, knocking her to her knees.

Just then, a young girl ran into the bathroom, saw a pregnant woman on the floor, screaming in pain, and ran to get her mother. The little girl's mother ran in and asked Hermione if she was all right. Hermione told her that she was in labour. The woman ran to the clerk at the desk, and asked him to call an ambulance because there was a woman in labour in the bathroom stall.

Hermione was frantic. She needed to get to St. Mungos and she needed her husband, but how was she going to accomplish either of those things, especially if a Muggle ambulance came for her, and took her to a Muggle hospital. The doctors would without a doubt ask her where she had been receiving her pre-natal care, and she had no idea what she would say.

She started crying. She was embarrassed, because by this time, there was a small crowd around her. She asked someone if they had a mobile phone. Three people handed her phones all at once. She grabbed one of them and called the only person she knew who was a wizard, but who had a Muggle mobile phone. Her old friend, Dean Thomas.

She knew his number, because she had memorized it just in case something like this had happened. She had begged Draco to get a phone for a long time, but he refused. Stupid prat.

She called Dean just as the ambulance arrived. He didn't answer, so she left him a message, "Dean, its Hermione Granger. I'm in labour. I'm being taken to a hospital, that's not our type of hospital if you get my drift," (She couldn't say more with the crowd around her) "please, please, find Draco and Harry and tell them. I'm not sure which Hospital I will be taken. Please, hurry," and she handed the person back their phone.

The ambulance driver asked her how far along she was. She told them she was 36 weeks and that she had being having pre-term labour off and on for three months. She told them she was hypertensive, and that there was a possibility of pre-eclampsia. When they asked her where she had been receiving her pre-natal care, she lied and mentioned a hospital that was over 50 kilometers away. It was a hospital that her grandmother had been in once. She didn't know what else to say.

They loaded her on the gurney, and asked her name, date of birth, age, and address. She tried to remain calm, answering their questions, as they took her blood pressure. One of the men, whom had just taken Hermione's blood pressure, looked at the man who was asking all the questions and said, "We don't have time for this, we need to get her out of here, now."

They put oxygen on her, and she started to cry. She was so scared and alone. She could only hope that Dean would get her message, contact Draco, and that he would be able to find her.

**At a Muggle Hospital, London:**

She had never been more afraid in all her life. She was all alone, in pain, anxious, and everything seemed new and foreign. She was rushed directly to the Maternity ward, where a doctor examined her, and said that they needed to perform an emergency cesarean section. Hermione was crying. She was beside herself. She needed Draco. They started an IV, which hurt more than she thought it would. They kept asking her if they could call her husband, but all she could do was to say, "I don't know where he is." She knew where he was, but she had no way to contact him.

They put a funny paper hat on her head, and rolled her down a hallway. She could see the bright white fluorescent lights above her, passing in a blur. She entered the operating theatre, and they put a funny mask on her face. She felt a burn to her arm, as they put something in her IV. She was cold, and the hard table they put her on was uncomfortable. They put a little thing on her finger and a blood pressure cup on her arm. A man in a mask told her to count down from 100. Hermione said, "99, 98, 97…"

**Back at Edgewood:**

Draco was so proud of himself. He went and talked to Hannah, and he felt he actually did some good. She agreed to go back to Blaise's house with him. He left them to sort out their problems. Then, he decided to get some take out food, and some roses; a surprise of sorts for his wife. They could celebrate tonight. A sort of 'welcome home' party. They could spend the night eating, drinking pumpkin juice, eating sweets, and watching a DVD on the television. He apparated directly to his wife's bedside, with a bundle in each hand. When he saw she wasn't there, he put the food, the roses, and sweets on the bed, and went to the bathroom. She must be in there.

He knocked on the door, "Hermione?" he said, tentatively, opening the door just a hair. She wasn't there. He frowned. He immediately went to the fireplace and called out to Potter. Harry told him to stay right where he was, he would be right over.

Harry, Draco and Ron spent the next 20 minutes looking all over the house and the gardens for Hermione. The house elves told Draco they had not seen her leave. They were just about to call in the Aurors, because they were that worried, when Dean Thomas suddenly showed up at their house.

"Draco, I'm so glad you're here!" he said, out of breath. "I just got home from a football game, and I had my phone off during the game, but when I went to check my messages at home I had one from Hermione."

"What?" Draco was confused.

"Hermione," Dean continued, "She called me from a bookstore. Apparently her water broke, and they took her to a Muggle hospital somewhere in London, but she had no idea what hospital, and she couldn't' say much, because there were so many Muggles around her."

"Damn, Malfoy," Harry said, running his hands through his hair, "Do you know how many hospitals there are in London?"

"How will we find her?" Draco was at a loss. He didn't know what to do first.

"Let Ron and I get the Ministry in on this. They have their ways. It shouldn't take long. Stay here." Harry left.

Dean asked, "Can I do anything?" Draco shook his hand in appreciation and then said no. Draco sat on his couch, put his head back on the cushions, and put one arm over his eyes. He felt desperate. If something happened to Hermione, he wouldn't survive. He would rather die than live without her or the baby.

"Dean, will you go to Blaise Zanbini's and tell him what's going on. Have him come here," Draco asked. Dean didn't answer, he just disapparated.

Draco started pacing back and forth. Why had she gone to a bookstore of all places? She was supposed to be on bed rest. No, he wouldn't blame her. If it was anyone's fault, it was his. He shouldn't have left her this evening. Hell, he shouldn't have waited a month to come and beg for forgiveness. His stupid, stupid pride.

He kicked a large floor vase, near the fireplace, and it shattered in a hundred pieces. He knelt down on the floor and screamed a harsh soul-piercing scream. He stood again, and continued to destroy everything in his path.

He finally sat on the stairs and waited for Potter. "Where the fuck are you, Potter!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. Then he yelled, "HERMIONE!" He couldn't just sit here and wait any longer. He didn't know where to start to look for her, but he had to get out of this house. This house just reminded him of all that he held so dear, and what he was so dangerously close to losing.

Just as he started to disapparate, he heard two 'pops' in his living room. He heard Ron say, "What happened in here?"

He ran in the room and before he could ask where Hermione was, Harry just grabbed his arm and disapparated them both to the hospital where Hermione was. Ron followed right behind. When he got there, Ginny, Blaise and Dean were already there. He didn't ask how they knew to be there. He was just thankful that they were.

Harry ran up to the admissions desk and said, "This is Draco Malfoy, Hermione Malfoy's husband." They appeared to have been waiting for him. They escorted him to a set of lifts. He looked pleadingly at Potter. Harry said, "We'll be right up, I promise."

Draco was left in a small little room, just off a larger waiting room. He thought that wasn't a good sign.

Soon, a doctor, and someone who told Draco he was something called a Chaplain, came into the room. The doctor introduced himself and said, "Mr. Malfoy, your wife was brought in earlier, and her water had broken. However, she wasn't dilated, nor was she in labour. Her blood pressure was very high, and your baby's heart rate was unstable, so we had to perform an emergency c-section. Your baby is in the neonatal intensive care unit. Your wife lost so much blood, and her blood pressure, which was previously elevated, dropped suddenly. We had to perform a hysterectomy. She is in the ICU unit, and she is non-responsive at this time. We're so sorry, but rest assured, we are doing everything we can for both of them."

The man stopped talking, but as far as Draco was concern, he hadn't understood a word the man said after he said, 'Mr. Malfoy'. Draco looked at both men, pleading with them to explain, when Harry came in the room.

Draco swallowed hard and said, "Potter, I don't know what they just said to me. Please, ask them to repeat it to you." Draco sat on the couch, hung his head, and started to cry.

The doctor repeated everything to Harry, and Harry thanked him and shook his hand. He told the Chaplain thanks, but "we won't need your services at the moment." He sat next to Draco, who was still weeping, silently, with his head hanging, staring at the floor.

Draco had a 'whooshing' noise in his ears. He felt like he had been kicked by a hippogriff right in the chest. Harry actually put his hand on Draco's back, just as their friends all entered the room. Harry was glad for their presence. He would only have to say everything once.

"Draco," Harry began. Draco didn't look up. "Hermione's water broke, but she wasn't ready for it to. She wasn't ready to have the baby. Her blood pressure was very high, and the baby's heart rate was very low. So, they had to do an operation, and they had to cut Hermione open and remove the baby." At this, Draco looked up and stood.

"They cut my wife open? What? How barbaric! They cut her open?" he repeated, now walking around the room like a caged animal.

Harry stood up as well, just in case he would have to restrain Draco. "That's not all, Malfoy," Harry said, "the baby was very, very small. She's not doing very well. They have her in a special ward for very sick babies, and they're working really hard to save her life."

Draco felt like throwing up, so that's what he did. He found a trash bin and threw up. He knelt by the can and rocked back and forth. "Where's my wife? They said something about her too, but I can't remember!"

Harry came up behind him. "Hermione's blood pressure suddenly dropped very low. She lost a lot of blood, and went into shock. The only way to stop the bleeding was to do another operation, called a hysterectomy." At that, Dean Thomas hissed an intake of air. All of the purebloods in the room looked at him and then at Harry.

Draco stood up and said, "What does that mean?"

"I'm so sorry, Malfoy," Harry said, finally sitting on the couch, scarcely able to say the words. "It means Hermione can't have any more children."

"They butchered my wife, like she was an animal," Draco said slowly and void of emotion. He was almost apathetic. He stood up and said, "What else? They said something else, tell me, what else."

Harry, who by this time had his own head in his hands, said with a hitch in his voice, "At this time they can't wake her up. She's in the Intensive Care Unit, and they said she is unconscious right now."

Draco knew what that meant. It meant his wife was probably going to die, as was his child. He wanted to go far, far away. Running away from difficult situations was what he did best, but his family needed him. He looked at Harry and said, "Can we have them transferred to St. Mungos?"

"I really think they're getting the best care we can hope for here. This is the top hospital in all of London. I think we shouldn't try to do anything rash at the moment," Harry said, then, surprising even himself, he started to cry as well. Ginny, who had already been crying, put her arms around her husband and held him tight. He put his head in her lap.

Blaise asked, "What can we do?"

"Wait," Harry responded. That's all they could do, was wait.

Draco thought how poignant and sad the whole affair was. They had been waiting all these months for this moment, and now that it was here, he wished it had never occurred.

After almost an hour, a different doctor came into the little waiting room. "Which one of you is Mr. Malfoy?"

Draco stood. The doctor introduced himself as the head of the Neo-natal ICU, and then said, "Would you like to see your daughter?"

"No," Draco said.

Ginny stood up and said, "Draco, go see your baby."

"Listen, you may boss everyone else around, but not me. I don't want to see her until Hermione does," he stated, without anger or malice.

"I'm the uncle," Blaise lied, "so is he," pointing to Harry, "May we please go see her?" The man said yes and escorted them to see the baby.

**Olivia Alexis Malfoy:**

They had to put on yellow gowns, and paper mask. They entered a room with many strange looking machines, and strange noises. There were many people walking around. Little Olivia Alexis Malfoy was in a little plastic looking box, which confused both of the men. She was so tiny, red, and had a bunch of dark curls on top of her head. She had a tiny white tube tape to her face, and going in her nose. She had a tube in her abdomen, and a funny looking tube in her leg. It was the saddest thing either man had ever seen.

"Which one of you is the father?" a nurse asked.

"We're the uncles. The father is having an emotional breakdown right now," Blaise said.

"You can reach in there and touch her, if you want," the nurse said. Harry looked at Blaise, who shook his head no. Harry walked over to his best friend's baby, and felt so sad for her, and for Hermione. He felt like crying again, but he decided to be strong for little Olivia. He couldn't believe how much love he already felt for her. If he loved this little girl just because he loved her mother, how much more would he love his own child someday? He reached in one finger and stroked her dark hair.

"How much does she weigh?" Harry asked the nurse.

"Only 1.68 kgs. She's a tiny one, but a fighter, I can tell," the nurse said, smiling to Harry.

"Just like her mummy," Harry smiled back.

**Back in the waiting room:**

Draco gladly accepted the coffee that the weasel offered to him. He was just about to take a drink when a different person, this time some woman, came in and told him he could go see his wife, but only for a few minutes.

Draco shot up out of his seat, spilling his coffee. Ginny told him she would clean it up. He followed the woman down a very long hallway, and then into a lift. They went up two floors, and when they exited the lifts, they walked through a set of double doors.

There was a central nurse's station, and as many as twenty little cubicles around the station. The cubicles were made primarily of Plexiglas. In one of the little cubes was his wife. She almost looked asleep. She was on her back, with a strange tube in her mouth that made a loud noise. A pumping noise. She had little white wires attached to her chest under a hospital gown, that the nurse told him was reading her heart rate. She had a clear tube, attached to a bag of liquid, which went into her arm. He asked what that was. The nurse said it was called an IV and it had something called saline solutions, which was keeping her hydrated. The littler bag, which was also attached to the tube, had medicine in it. Draco asked what the tube in her mouth was for, and the nurse put her hand on Draco's back and said softly, "your wife went through a terrible ordeal, and her body is very, very tired, so that machine is helping her to breath. I know it's loud and scary. Would you like me to get you a chair?" Draco couldn't believe how nice all these Muggles were being. He was always taught how awful and inferior they were, but that was not the case at all.

The nurse brought Draco's chair and he sat down and stroked Hermione's hand. He sniffed, and tried hard not to cry again. The same nurse said, "You can talk to her, if you want. She'll be able to hear you."

The nurse left, and Draco leaned closer to his wife, and continued to stroke her hand. "We have a baby girl, Hermione. Potter and Blaise are visiting her right now. I'll wait and see her with you. If she's anything like her mummy, I bet she's the most beautiful baby in the world. I am so very proud of you. You did an amazing job. You are both going to get better and come home soon. I mean that, Granger. You get better. You have to get better." He could no longer hold back his tears. He stood up and put one had on her cheek. He bent down and kissed her, and a teardrop fell on her face. "I love you, Granger. You have no right to stay away from me. You wake up, do you hear me?" He sat back down, and put his head on the bed beside her body.

The nurse came and told him he had to leave now, but he could come back in two hours for fifteen minutes. He was too tired to fight that ridiculous rule. He walked back in the hallway, leaned against the wall, slid down to a seated position, and hung his head in defeat, shame and utter despair. He needed Hermione to make him feel better, and yet it was because of her that he felt this way. The irony of the situation was not lost on him in the least.

_End of Day 7_


	8. Day 8 Thursday Homecoming A Third

**all characters belong to JKR**

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**Chapter 8: Day 8 Thursday Homecoming A Third**

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**Day 8, 20th September, Thursday:**

**10:00 am, the Homecoming:**

"Watch your step, Weasley."

"Shut up, Malfoy, I know what I'm doing," Ron said, walking from the foyer of Edgewood into the living room.

"Stop being a prat," Ginny said, without remorse.

"Yeah, stop being a prat," Ron echoed.

"I was talking to you," Ginny stated to her brother. "Just give me the baby, before you drop her." Ginny took the baby from Ron's arms, and walked into the living room.

Draco and Harry, both escorting Hermione, followed closely behind. The men gently guided her to the couch.

Draco asked, "Do you need anything?"

"A glass of water would be nice," she said.

"Hey, you over there, make yourself useful and go get her some water," Draco commanded harshly, pointing toward the last person entering the room.

"I'm not a bloody house elf," Blaise scolded, coming to sit down on the arm of the couch, next to Hermione.

"Blaise, sweetheart," Hermione looked at him endearingly, "would you mind getting me a glass of water, please?"

He kissed her hand, and said to Draco, "That's the way you ask for a favour, you bloody git," and he left the room.

Hermione looked at her husband and said, "When will you learn, you get more with sugar than with vinegar."

"I don't even want to hear any more stupid, bloody, Muggle expressions," Draco exclaimed, going over to the baby's bassinet, to make sure she was okay.

Just then, an elderly woman came in the room followed by Blaise. She bent down, picked up the baby, and said, "I'll go change her and then bring her right back."

"Draco!" Hermione said loudly, pointing to the retreating figure walking out of the room with their only child, "who is that woman kidnapping our baby?"

"She's not kidnapping her, Granger," Draco drawled, leaning down and kissing his wife's head. He yelled to the woman, as she was reaching the doorway, "Oi, you're not kidnapping her are you?"

"No, certainly not," the woman said, then she came back toward Hermione and said, "My name is Sylvia Thornton, and I'm the new governess. It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Malfoy. Now, I will be right back in with her." She left the room once more.

"What?" Hermione yelled, looking at her husband, who by now was walking across the room to look outside, not wanting to look his wife in the eye. "Draco, I told you no nanny!"

Draco looked at her and said, "Didn't you hear the woman, SHES, A, GOVERNESS, NOT, A, NANNY." He said the last six words as if she was mentally deficient, and could only understand people who talked loud and slow.

"Who hired her?" Hermione asked. By this time, Harry, Ginny, and Ron all had the good sense to walk out to the patio. Blaise, who was drinking the glass of water that he was supposed to give to Hermione, decided to answer that one.

"Malfoy hired her, but she comes highly recommended," Blaise said, finally realizing the water was supposed to be Hermione's, so he handed her the remaining half glass.

She took the water and put it down on the end table. "Who recommended her?" Hermione asked, still looking at Draco, who by this time was looking all around the room, instead of looking at his wife.

Blaise decided to answer that question as well. "By me. She was my governess when I was young."

Hermione was about to protest, when at that moment Sylvia came back in the room with the baby and told Hermione, "Yes, but please don't hold that against me. I have plenty of references from people who actually grew up into responsible, respectable, nice, kind adults. This one over here was too far gone when I got to him." She left the room, and Hermione knew she liked her immediately.

Hermione said, "Draco, come here." He approached her with caution.

"You don't have your wand do you?" he asked wearily.

"No, listen, she can stay, just until I've fully recovered, but I don't want a live in governess, full time," Hermione pleaded.

"Fine, she will only stay overnight until you are recovered fully from your operation, and then she will just come during the days, Monday through Friday, after that, agreed?" Draco took her hand.

Blaise took her other hand and said, "Sounds reasonable to me."

She removed her hands from both men and said, "I'm surrounded by snakes."

Draco leaned down, kissed her head, and said, "That must make you a snake charmer." Then he stood and called the others back into the room. Hermione tried to stand to go get the baby, when Blaise went and picked up her up and brought her to Hermione, without Hermione even asking. She smiled sweetly at him. Ron, Ginny and Harry came back in and sat around the room.

Draco said, "Everyone, gather round, I have presents for each of you." He ran from the room and came back in with a large paper bag. He withdrew a red mobile phone and handed it to Hermione. He withdrew a black one and handed to Blaise. He withdrew a gold one and handed it to Potter. He withdrew a teal phone and handed it to Ginny, and then the last two, one blue, one green, he handed to Ron, but then took the green one back and held it in his hand.

"These are mobile phones, everyone," Draco explained. Hermione rolled her eyes. "We will all be able to contact each other at a moment's notice. What happened to Hermione was an important lesson. Now, the man at the store helped me to put all of your numbers in what's called the menu. You each have an instruction book, in the bag here, which will teach you how to use it. They aren't too complicated."

Everyone was opening and closing their phones, and turning them on and off, while Draco continued, "I'll continue to pay the bills, but use the phones wisely."

Hermione leaned over to Blaise and said, "That means don't call me unless it's an emergency."

Blaise smiled and said, "I was with Draco when he got the phones. You're the first person on my contact list, even before Hannah, who has her own phone, so I'm sure I'll call and chat with you frequently, no fears, love."

Hermione turned to Draco and gave him a positively scathing look. He merely shrugged, and started handing out the instruction booklets. "Next," he persisted, "it dawned on me, Muggle transportation is very important, so I got each of you a car," and with that he started handing out keys.

"Draco, that's stupid!" Hermione yelled.

Harry said, "The salesman must have seen you coming, Malfoy. Did he say if he worked on commission?" Then he laughed.

"What type of car?" Ron muttered.

"Everyone got something different. They're around the side of the house, just go check them out," Draco said. Everyone looked at each other, and then suddenly they all ran out of the living room, and toward the front door, pushing and shoving each other.

"What type of car did you get me?" Hermione asked amused, still sitting on the couch.

"A red BMW convertible. The salesman said you would like it," Draco said, sitting next to her, and stroking the baby's head.

"What did you get yourself?" she asked.

"Something called a Jaguar, silver," he responded.

"Malfoy," Hermione began, laughing, "Those are very expensive cars. What did you get the others?" He shrugged again, uninterested in what she was saying.

He looked over to her, saw her disapproving look, and said, "Our friends were so great during the whole pregnancy and the hospital ordeal that I wanted to show them that it was appreciated, okay?"

"Does anyone besides Harry and I even know how to drive?" Hermione wondered aloud.

"If you and Scarface can do it, it can't be too hard, we'll learn," Draco laughed. He was stroking the baby's hair and said, "Honestly, how did she get all of those dark curls? I understand the curly part, but her hair is as black as coal. It's pretty coincidental that both godfathers have black hair, aye, Granger?" He kissed the baby's head.

Hermione joked, "I told you not to be surprised if the baby had black hair. Blaise was spending a lot of time with me."

Their friends were all entering the room just then and Ron said, "Do you know who else has black hair? Scott Cohn." Why he mentioned Scott, no one would ever know, but his sister kicked him in the shin, and everyone gave him looks ranging from disappointment to contempt.

Draco, instead of being angry, leaned over and whispered in his wife's ear, "At least she doesn't have ginger hair." Hermione smiled.

Harry said, "We should let the family rest. We'll see them again tonight at the joint christening, Hermione's birthday, one year anniversary party of their first date thingy, party, thingy, whatever, that Draco is throwing tonight." He didn't know what to call it, because the invitations Draco sent out indeed said it was a christening/birthday party for Hermione/anniversary of their first date, party. "We still need to get Hermione's gift. We've already got the baby's gift."

Blaise said, "Your gift to the baby won't compare to mine, godfather number two. I bought her a pony."

"She won't be able to ride it until she's older," Ginny protested.

"So, at least she'll have it, and anyway, every little girl needs a pony. It can stay in my stables until she's ready for it," Blaise reasoned.

"This child will be so spoiled," Ginny said.

Draco took offense to that and said, "Listen here, Little Red, a child can never have too much love or too many people to love it, got that?"

Blaise then said, "Yeah, so I guess I love her more than you, since I got her a pony."

"We love her!" Ginny protested, "Tell them what we got her, Harry!"

Harry looked embarrassed and then, quietly, looked directly at Hermione, and said, "We got her a house."

"You mean a doll's house? That's a wonderful gift, Harry, Ginny, thank-you," Hermione stated.

"No," Harry came and sat on the coffee table across from his best friend, "we got her an actual house. It's a cottage really. It's in Godric's Hollow. My hope and dream is that someday all of our children will have homes there. They don't have to be their primary homes, but just a piece of our history, you know?" He looked down at Hermione, to see if she approved. She looked like she was going to cry. She smiled, and he knew that she was grateful.

"Bloody hell!" Blaise lashed out. "A HOUSE! I won't let the stupid second godfather out shine me. I need to go shopping right now! Stupid Harry Potter, who needs him as a godfather anyway?"

With those words spoken, they all kissed Hermione and Olivia, said goodbye, and left.

**The family alone, 2 hours later:**

"Draco, I'm not sure I'm up for a party tonight. This is mine and Olivia's first day home," Hermione reminded him, as she sat on the couch, holding the baby, "And, it's not the anniversary of our first date. That's tomorrow night, and it's one day past my birthday."

"We can still celebrate them all together," Draco told her, standing up and taking the baby from her. "You won't have to do a thing, just attend, and if you get tired, we'll send everyone home."

"That's fine then, after all, I'm not an invalid," Hermione waved, "But I need to rest now, though I should feed the baby first."

"I'll feed her," Draco reprimanded, "You go take a nap." He put the baby in her bassinet, and came over to Hermione and led her to his study.

"Do you want me to read, or sleep?" Hermione inquired, wondering why they were heading toward the study.

"This is our temporary bedroom. I had your little study made into a temporary nursery, and I had a bathroom added on. You aren't supposed to take the stairs yet, and you shouldn't apparate with the baby. This will be easier for us all," he explained. He helped her lay down, covering her legs with a light shawl.

"Can you really feed the baby by yourself?" Hermione quizzed.

"I fed her a ton of times at the hospital. Anyway, Sylvia can help if I'm stuck. Don't worry, take a nap, Granger." He bent down and kissed her forehead. "Oh, and in case I haven't told you today, I love you so much," he added, and then he turned and left the room.

After Draco fed the baby, he crawled up on the bed next to his wife, with his infant still in his arms. Hermione, who Draco assumed was sleeping, said, "Isn't she the most beautiful baby in the world?"

"Yes, she's beautiful," Draco agreed.

"But, I mean, even if she wasn't ours, wouldn't you think she was beautiful?" Hermione amended, touching her baby's arm.

"Yes, she's quite lovely," Draco said, smiling down at his baby.

"NO," Hermione seemed agitated, and she tried to sit upright, but she winced in pain. He looked over at her with concern, as she continued her diatribe. "I mean if she was just some random baby walking down the street, wouldn't you stop and say, there goes the prettiest baby I've ever seen?"

All Draco thought was, 'my wife is crazy', but he said, "Frankly, if I was walking down the street, and I saw a one month old baby walking toward me, I don't care how beautiful she is, I would be a little freaked out, random baby or our own."

Hermione hit his arm, but put her head back down on her pillow. "Put her down next to me," Hermione requested.

"You mustn't fall asleep with a baby in the bed with you," Draco said, putting the sleeping baby next to his wife, "All the books I've read said so. I've bought every book on parenting ever written. I am quite the expert now. Any questions you have, you can come to me," Draco said with pride.

"I would rather just read the books on my own," Hermione waned, thinking her husband had too much time on his hands and needed a hobby or a job. She kissed her baby and cuddled it in her arms. "She truly is a gift from above." Without warning, Hermione started to cry. Draco quickly picked up the baby, and put her in the nursery, next door, in her cradle. He came back and sat next to his crying wife.

"What's wrong, Hermione?" Draco asked, stroking her cheek and hair.

She took a deep breath and said, "We've never discussed the fact that we can't have more children. Do you regret that? Do you blame me? Be truthful."

He answered somewhat tentatively, not wanting really to broach the subject at all. "Well, we're both only children, so I don't really see the big deal."

Hermione said, "Yes, that's true. I'm still sorry, though."

Draco, who didn't want his wife to blame herself, said, "Why are you sorry. It's not something that anyone needs to take blame."

"I'm not really blaming myself, it's just, I'm still sorry," Hermione began. "Olivia will never have a brother or sister, and I won't ever give you a son."

"What's so special about a son? I have a daughter, and she's more than I ever wanted, and more than I deserve," Draco said sincerely, and then with a smile, he said, "Anyway, when I'm 90 years old someday, my second wife can give me plenty of children."

"Does that mean I die before you?" Hermione inquired with a smile.

Draco took a deep breath, just realizing the gravity of her question. It was too soon to joke about such things. There was a prolonged silence, until Draco broke it, saying somberly, "You know what? I don't even want to think about that. I came too close to losing you, to ever joke about that. I don't want you to ever die." He turned to her and put his hand on her cheek. "Promise me that you'll never die."

She felt like crying, seeing his distress, even so, knowing it was useless to say, she said it anyway. "I promise I will never die."

He said, "I mean it, Granger, I want to die before you."

She said, "That's my wish as well," and smiled at him, grasping his hand.

He stood up from the bed and said, "I have other presents, besides the phones and cars."

"Do tell," she laughed.

"I can't give them to you, because they aren't here yet, but, I've made arrangements for central air conditioning, an electric heat pump, electricity to go with the electric heat pump, two computers, and microwave, a food processor, and bread machine, a CD player…" before he could continue, she stopped him.

"Draco, that's enough. Harry's right. It sounds like some Muggle salesperson took advantage of you. The central air and heat pump, with electricity, would suffice. Just knowing there will be no more cold winter nights and no more hot summer days, all I can say is thank you. Now, I need to rest." She shut her eyes and he took that as his cue to leave.

**Very early afternoon, Draco on the front porch:**

Draco checked on their baby one last time, then came back to their makeshift bedroom, kissed his wife again, and walked outside. He sat on the front porch, directly on the steps, and he thought over all the events that led him to this moment in time. He was so close to losing it all, in a blink of an eye, it was almost gone. Everything he had ever wanted, everything he **never** thought he deserved, was inside asleep right now, under his roof, and he would forever keep them safe. To think that the lives he held so dear were once held so preciously, as if held by a rusted hinge, waiting to snap; it all could have been gone forever.

During the last month, Hermione's health proved to be more of a concern than Olivia's health. While in the hospital, their baby was doing progressively better, growing stronger, each day she was there, while his wife's journey was the complete opposite. It seemed she grew weaker and closer to death as each day passed. He hated reflecting on such horrible memories. It was bad enough to live through them the first time, let alone live through them again in memories.

Right after her c-section and hysterectomy, she got a terrible blood infection, and then she went into heart failure. The doctors tried to wean her from her ventilator after the first week, but it was apparent that the blasted machine was the only thing keeping her alive. Her life was being held to this earth by a simple string. The hospital staff told him to hope for the best, but expect the worse. They told him that decisions needed to be made soon. Just as things seemed to be at their bleakest for Hermione, a mere two weeks after Olivia' s birth, Hermione seemed to turn the proverbial corner, as if a true miracle occurred.

It was early morning, and Draco and Harry had taken up the vigil by Hermione's bedside. Draco was a permanent resident at the hospital, but on that particular morning, as the doctors tried to figure out what to do next, and just as they had told Draco that he might want to consider removing the ventilator, their small circle of friends joined in the watch. Draco told Potter that he needed to be alone and have some time to think about things.

He left his wife's bedside, kissing her cheek before he went. He looked back at her sad, small, pathetic, ailing body and thought, 'is she even still in there?' As he started to roam the hallways, he thought about how she was getting weaker and weaker. Could she really get better? Was that possible? He continued walking down the labyrinth of hallways, turning corner after corner, not even knowing where he was going, or if he would find his way back. He felt like this Muggle hospital was his new home. It had been the only home his child had known in the last two weeks, and it might well be the only home his wife would know before she died.

He turned down another hallway, and saw a large set of oak doors, pushed halfway opened, that seemed to beckon to him, calling his name. He was forced to enter, as a moth was forced to a flame. The little room was like a lighthouse, a beacon of sorts, calling to him. It called, and he answered, so he entered.

The room was empty, save for Draco. There was one window, at the end of the room, with many different coloured panes of glass. No light came from behind the glass, for it was a grey, stormy day. He sat on one of the little wooden benches lined up in the room, and hung his head and cried. He had cried more times as an adult, than he had cried his entire childhood. The fact of the matter was, he had cried more these two weeks than he ever had. He sat there, crying, reflecting on his journey through life, on his wife's perilous journey to possible death, and his little girl's journey to live. Could his wife be brought back from the brink of death? Or was it too late?

An elderly man entered the little room. He sat on the bench next to Draco. Draco didn't even look up. The man asked, "Is there something troubling you, son?'

Draco, who rarely talked to strangers, let alone confided in them, felt as compelled to talk to this man, as he had felt obliged to enter this little room, so he said, "My wife is dying."

"How do you know?" the man asked.

"That's what the doctors tell me," Draco explained, "They say she's growing weaker everyday, and she's being kept alive by a machine. I don't know what to do. We just had a baby. She's in this hospital too, but she's getting better everyday, while my wife is getting worse. I can't have a baby without my wife." Draco started to cry again.

"You won't have to," the man concluded.

"How would you know?" Draco asked sharply.

The man put his hand on Draco's arm and said, "I have faith, don't you?"

"Not anymore," Draco responsed.

"That's a shame, you should," the man responded back.

"But the doctors said she's not getting any better," Draco tried to reason.

The man said, "Doctors don't know everything, Draco. After all, they're just men. Men don't control the fate of the universe. They only know what their limited minds allow them to know, and nothing more."

"And what do you know? You're being very vague," Draco commented, not even realizing that the man had said his name.

"I'm not being vague, I'm being specific," the man corrected, "Look deeply in your own heart. It's telling you the truth, you just refuse to listen."

"To what should I be listening?" Draco pondered.

"Listen for the truth, it's there, right in your heart," the man said, putting his hand over Draco's heart. "Tell me, what does your heart truly say to you?"

"Truthfully?" Draco asked.

The man laughed slightly and said, "Well, I wouldn't want you to lie, so yes, tell me truthfully."

Draco said, "My heart is truthfully telling me that my wife will be fine, but it's at conflict with my head, which tells me that my wife might die. My head tells me to prepare for the end, and my heart tells me this is just the beginning. My head agrees with the doctors, and believes there's a strong possibility that she may die, and my heart tells me not to lose faith, that all is not lost, and that no matter what, life is not so unkind to give me a beautiful wife and daughter, to turn around and take one away from me."

"There's your answer. There's your truth," the man said, nodding.

Draco looked at him confused, so the man clarified, "Listen to your heart, trust in your faith, you'll find out what's true."

Draco looked back at the floor. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath. This man, this stranger, was right. Deep down, Draco knew the answer. He knew it the moment he was drawn into this little room. He lifted his head, to thank the man, but he was inexplicably gone. Draco stood, and looked around. He hadn't heard the man leave. He couldn't have been a wizard, because he would have heard him disapparating. Where could he have gone? He wanted to thank him.

Draco said, to the air in the room, "Thank You." Without warning, the sun began to streak through the tinted windowpanes, creating a prism, a collage of colours, which danced on the opposite wall. As he watched the dancing colors, yellow, green, blue, the feeling of constant foreboding, which he had felt since the first day Hermione entered the hospital, lifted.

He left the little room and easily found his way back to the ICU unit. Before he turned down the last hallway, which would lead him to the end of his journey and to the doors to the ICU, Potter came running down the hallway. Without knowing why, Draco started running to meet him.

Draco saw Potter smiling. All he said was, "She's alright! They don't know why, but she's awake, and they were able to remove her ventilator!"

Draco said a silent 'thank you' once more, and walked into the ICU.

Now, weeks later, as Draco sat on his front porch, reliving these memories, he decided not to question anything that he saw or heard that day. It would be his own little secret, besides; he didn't even know if it was real. The only thing that he knew for certain was that his wife was alive, his daughter was alive, and he would do everything in his power to keep them safe, all of his days.

**Later that evening, at the party:**

Hermione was sitting at the end of their long dining room table, holding their baby in her arms. Draco sat to her right. Their friends and loved ones gathered around, creating an atmosphere of love and happiness, which had sorely been missing from their lives for a long time.

The baby's christening took place first, in the living room. She was formally named, and her godparents were presented. She received many useless gifts, of which she was not aware, and then she fell fast asleep, having already slept through the majority of the ceremony.

Next, came Hermione's birthday, one day late. Draco made a joke about being married to an "older woman" and everyone laughed. She was showered with presents and warm salutations, and then presented with a cake with more candles than her years. Draco told her each candle represented a year in her life, already lived, and a year in her life, yet to be lived. There were hundreds of candles. Her friends all helped her blow them out her candles.

After everyone left, and Sylvia had put the baby down, Draco picked his wife up and took her outside, to sit under the canopy of stars. She told him she was capable of walking, but he laughed and told her she should be thankful that he could lift her again, because seriously, for a while there, she was quite large.

He sat down on the swing, with her on his lap. He asked her if she was comfortable, did she need a sweater, did she need anything at all. She told him he was all she needed.

He nuzzled her neck and said, "This, right here, is the celebration of our first date, and look, it's after midnight. It was exactly one year ago that I took you to the roof of my penthouse, and we ate under the stars, and we played that silly game, and we kissed, and drank too much champagne, and I realized I love you and could never let you go."

"As I recall," Hermione began, "You also forced me to conquer my fear of heights that night, and you kept eating my crème brulee."

Draco laughed and said, "Why does your mind always insist on remembering the unpleasant things?"

"What was your favourite part of our first date?" she asked him, putting her arms tight around his neck, and relaxing in his embrace.

He started to swing them back and forth. He thought for a moment, and said, "It's hard to narrow it down to one thing. That's like saying, 'what's your favourite minute of the day', or 'what's your favourite breath to take'. It's too abstract. It can't be defined, but if I had to pick the best part of that night, I would sum it up in one word, you. You were, and are, the best thing to ever happen to me." He turned her face toward his and kissed her gently on the lips, and then deepening the kiss, so much so that he forgot for a moment that he wasn't back on that rooftop, a year ago, kissing her for the first time. This felt like the first time. Each time he kissed her, it felt as fresh and sweet as the first time.

They parted and he asked, "Tell me your best memory of that night."

"My best memory of that night is happening right now," she stated.

"I don't understand," he said.

She moved from his lap to sit beside him on the swing and said, "That night, the only thing I thought, and the only thing I hoped, was that someday we might fall in love, marry, and have children. I truly wanted that for the first time in my life, that night, on our first date, with you. It's been a hard and complex journey, to say the least, but I wouldn't trade one moment with you, for anything in the world." She reached for his hand, and he reached for hers at the same exact time.

He brought her hand to his lips, kissed her fingertips, and said, "I love you more today than I have ever loved you. My love truly grows stronger the longer I know you, do you feel the same?"

Hermione leaned into his chest, and he put his arm around her to embrace her tightly in their dominion. "All I have to do is look at our beautiful daughter, and I can absolutely feel my love for you grow." She then yawned. It had been a long day. It had been a long year.

"Let's go inside, Granger," Draco said, standing, and bringing her to her feet. "Let the second year of our lives start. It can't be worse than the first, it can only be better, and at least we have the knowledge and the fortitude to withstand whatever the second year throws at us, from living through the trials and tribulations of this first year."

Hermione stood by her husband and held on to him tightly, looked up at his face and said, "Let the rest of our lives begin." They kissed once more, then turned to walk back inside, and left the night sky to extinguish the stars all on its own. They had more important things to do, and they had the rest of their lives in which to do them.

The End

_(The fourth installment, "A Fourth and Final Week in the Life" deals with all the years of their daughter's time at Hogwarts, and how Hermione and Draco handles their daughter's growing up. Thanks!)_


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